Childhood's End
by Starway Man
Summary: Xander Harris ends up with a little sister named Dawn, and is willing to do anything to keep her safe. (COMPLETE)
1. The Best Laid Plans

**Date written: **Thu 12 Sep 2013

**Authors:** Starway Man and Nodakskip

**Emails: **theop at hotkey dot net dot au, Nodakskip at aol dot com

**Feedback:** As they say, it's the coin of the realm. So please tell us what you thought of it.

**Acknowledgments:** Thanks to Francis Eugene, Greywizard and Ironbear for beta'ing this fanfic, and all the incredible input in terms of ideas and plot development. And thanks to Buffyworld, too, for the transcripts consulted in the writing of this story.

**Category:** AU, Action, Adventure, Angst, Romance

**Disclaimer:** None of the Buffy and Angel references belong to us, but rather Joss and his gang of idi...er, geniuses. And those parts of the story that are more or less taken from the TV show obviously belong to the writers in question.

**Rating: **Overall R, most parts PG-13

**Warnings: **There are some very adult concepts mentioned in this fic, including consensual and non-consensual sexual references. Not to mention bad language, violence and character death is also present. So for all the kiddies out there, better not read this story.

**Summary: **Xander Harris ends up with a little sister named Dawn, and is willing to do anything to keep her safe.

**Title:** Childhood's End

* * *

"_They'll never know how tough it is, Dawnie. To be the one who isn't chosen, to live so near to the spotlight and never step in it. But I know._" – (Xander Harris, BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER)

"_Hi, Dawn. Yeah, it's me. Is your sister home?_" – (Angelus, ANGEL)

"_A rose by any other name may smell as sweet, but life would have been a lot harder for poets had it been called a cabbage._" – (Leslie Charteris, 1978)

* * *

**Prologue: The Best Laid Plans...**

**Just outside the remains of Sunnydale, California**

**May, 20003**

Faith Lehane, the Vampire Slayer, groaned. "I just want to sleep, yo, for like a week!"

"I guess we all could, if we wanted to," the young woman named Dawn Summers nodded.

"Yeah." Willow Rosenberg almost beamed. "The First is scrunched, so...what do you think we should do, Buffy?"

"Yeah, you're not the one and only chosen anymore, B," Faith told the blonde with a smirk. "Just gotta live like a person. How's that feel?"

But just as Buffy opened her mouth to reply, another voice – this one male, and rather harsh-sounding – said: "Please. Don't tell me that you people _**really **_believe this is your moment of ultimate victory?"

Everyone spun around from the crater to see who had voiced the question. Right behind them was a black man, with a van Dyke beard and a long blue-grey robe. "If so, then the situation really is worse than I thought."

"Who the hell are you?!" Faith demanded, pulling out a dagger.

"There's no need for violence. However, there is need for talk," the man said as he waved his hand and the dagger vanished. The mage, or whatever he was, looked back towards the school bus. Everyone on board – all the new Slayers, Robin Wood, and Andrew Wells – fell gently to the floor, all of them safe but out cold.

"Don't be alarmed," the black man told Buffy, who'd come up to the front after seeing what had happened to the people on the bus. "They're just sleeping."

"Who and what are you?" Giles demanded.

"My name is not important-" he started to reply.

"I think it is. Cough up!" Buffy ordered the man she'd mentally dubbed 'Robe Boy' in no uncertain terms.

"Please, Slayer, must you focus on trivialities? You've already made enough of a mess of this situation as it is."

"Mess?!" Buffy demanded, feeling shocked. She pointed back to the crater. "We just dropped the Hellmouth on top of the First Evil! How can you say that?"

Robe Boy looked to Giles and said, "You're her teacher...or at least, you were. Can you not explain to this foolish girl how a falling city would in fact do nothing to a being who is unable to physically manifest in this dimension?"

"What are you saying?" Giles asked, not knowing what the new arrival was really getting at.

"All of you were...what's the appropriate term?" He looked now to Xander Harris, and the one-eyed man stared right back at him. "The phrase is 'you got played', I believe?"

"Look. Either start making with the non-cryptic, mister, or get lost," Buffy stated coldly, just as Xander opened his mouth to reply.

"Very well. In essence, you were tricked into doing exactly what the First wished," the black man responded.

"No we weren't. We killed it!" the Slayer's little sister said, upset and thinking of her new friends that had just died.

"A pleasant fantasy, Key-child, but nothing more; for the First cannot be killed. The Watcher and the dead ex-demon told you this, months ago, after they visited the entity known as Beljoxa's Eye. Have you forgotten facts and history so completely?"

"Then where is it now?" Buffy demanded, as Xander strove to calm himself down at the casual mention of Anya's demise like that. "I don't see the First around anywhere, gloating-"

"Because its job here is done, Slayer," Robe Boy interrupted. "Its goal accomplished, the First now has other business to attend to."

Robe Boy could tell that no one present believed him. And so he unleashed a vision of the future upon his companions. It was a dark and hellish glimpse of the shape of things to come, the result of a chain-reaction of events starting this very day.

In about a year, thanks in part to what had transpired today – the vampire known as Angel killed all the members of the Circle of the Black Thorn, the direct instruments of the Wolf, Ram and Hart in this world. The Senior Partners in their anger then released thousands of hell-demons upon the Earth. A Slayer army went in to fight the demon army...and everyone on both sides died.

After that battle, the world eventually became nothing but a wasteland. No new Slayers were Called to continue the fight, because with all the Potentials now empowered at once, there was no one left to be activated after their passing.

Thus, after the balance was tilted enough for it to physically manifest on the earthly plane, the First Evil was free to rule the devastated ruins of the planet, forever after.

Everyone screamed or yelled in horror as they snapped out of their shared nightmare vision.

"Gaaah!" Xander shouted. "What the-" He was instantly reminded of what Stewart Burns had done to him last year, but the former carpenter suspected that this time it wasn't all a lie. Anya was gone now, and he rather doubted this guy was a victim of Anyanka anyway.

"That was...what the hell was that?" Buffy demanded. Her question was instantly echoed by Faith, Willow, Giles and Dawn.

"That was the consequences resulting from your pride and hubris, Slayer, the result of your 'bloody brilliant plan'," the black man said scornfully, the last three words a perfect imitation of Giles' voice.

"No way!" Faith snarled.

"You can believe it or not. It makes no difference to me, Slayer, or to the upcoming future," Robe Boy replied. Which, oddly enough, was enough to make the Summers woman believe him.

"Okay, okay, okay," Buffy said, still looking freaked but thinking quickly. "Look, we can still make this work. We just need to make sure Angel doesn't kill those Thorn guys, right? No thorn guy death, so no demon armies-"

"Too late. The wheels are already in motion," Robe Boy told her. "The demon with a soul has traded away his former purpose, to try to save his son and his seer."

"Something's wrong with Cordy?" Xander immediately asked upon hearing of his old high school girlfriend, Cordelia Chase.

"She will be dead soon enough, the damage done by that perverse abomination of a birth too severe for her to ever recover from," the black man said with distaste. Xander's eye went wide. "And she will be led by the Powers That Be to keep the vampire on this path...no matter what any of you say or do to try to stop it."

"So, what are you saying?" Harris demanded. "We just sit around and wait for all that to happen, and then go off to die like good soldiers?"

Staring right back at him, the black man replied, "Not necessarily. There is another way."

"What? Just kill Deadboy now, and be done with it?" Xander asked, looking perfectly serious.

"Xander!" both Willow and Buffy exclaimed angrily, as Faith gave him a sharp elbow to the ribs.

"No. Something else. It is not something to be undertaken lightly, though," Robe Boy said solemnly. "I can undo the circumstances which allowed the First to manifest itself in this world-"

"When my friends brought me back to life," Buffy interrupted him, shocked. "You want to kill me?"

"No," Robe Boy responded with a shrug. "Bringing you back to life had nothing to do with the First's actions over the last two years, Slayer."

"What? But that's not..." Giles trailed off, confused. In his mind, this went against everything that Beljoxa's Eye had told him; even if the demon had never actually said that Buffy's resurrection had enabled the First to go on the warpath, just that "the Slayer caused it". ( _Then again, why should I have accepted everything that bloody demon told us as gospel?_ ) "No, never mind. Uh, assuming that's true...then, then what did cause the First to be able to go on the offensive?"

Instead of answering Giles, the mage just looked past him to one of their group.

"Me?" Dawn squeaked out, surprised.

"You are _**not**_ touching my sister!" Buffy snarled, as she stormed up to Robe Boy and looked ready to kill.

"Indeed, for that would be a pointless mistake. It was the Powers That Be who made the true error, though," the black guy said calmly, unaffected by the threat of death.

Off their looks, he explained, "When they let those monks retroactively put the Key into your lives, it should have caused major ripples in the timeline as a consequence. And yet, one of the Powers held them back – because they would have interfered with many of its plans. It is because history was not allowed to make room for Dawn Summers properly which led to the disruption in the mystical forces protecting the Slayer lineage. And _**that**_ is what allowed the First to attack the way it did."

"Good Lord!" Giles would have started polishing his glasses, if he'd still had a pair that remained intact.

"Wait, wait a minute. What do you mean by 'ripples'? 'Cause I didn't just pop into existence just like that! Well, except for the part where I apparently _**did**_, but..." Dawn trailed off, looking frustrated.

"She's right, this doesn't make sense. I mean, not only were all of our memories altered, but that spell those monks did, it altered records all over the place – it _**had**_ to have done! Birth records, school, doctors, hospital, banking, IRS, Social Security, census data, insurance, yadda yadda yadda," Willow said. "So how can you possibly say that history wasn't altered?"

"You focus on semi-trivialities," Robe Boy told her expressionlessly. "What I speak of is more subtle in nature. Consider the events of October 12th, 1998."

"Huh?" Faith demanded.

"The clothes fluke! That's the night Xander and I..." Willow trailed off, looking embarrassed.

"Precisely, witch. Had the ripples from Dawn Summers being present in your bedroom that night been allowed to occur, events would have taken place very differently compared to what you remember." Robe Boy glanced over at Xander. "And you would never even have been present in Sunnydale, for the past four years."

"So what can we do now?" Dawn asked, her eyes wide. "Other than killing me, I mean?"

"I can alter the circumstances under which you came to exist as a human being; undo the damage done, as it were. That will result in an unknown and unknowable new timeline, where anything can and might conceivably happen. Almost certainly, the plans of the Powers That Be in dealing with all of you will be ruined. But nothing is ever completely certain. And given the present option of this world being abandoned to the forces of evil..." The mage shrugged.

"So why the hell didn't you just do that in the first place?" Willow demanded. "Why bother telling us all this!?"

Robe Boy just pointed upwards. "The one to whom I owe my fealty is very big on free will. If you wish to try to keep humanity alive after the battle to come...then that is your choice."

Everyone started to babble when Xander suddenly shouted, "EVERYBODY, QUIET!" He then turned to the robed man, "This new timeline dealie you mentioned. What's that mean for Anya? Does, does she live?"

"Possibly, in a manner of speaking." The black man gave another of his indifferent shrugs, something all the gang found very irritating.

"So what's that supposed to mean?" Buffy demanded.

"Anyanka will be present as a vengeance demon, her humanity abandoned and forgotten over a thousand years previously. But the one you call Anya...might never come to exist." In response to the Slayer's look, Robe Boy added, "Actions have consequences, and you of all people should know that."

Again, there was a babble of voices, but that of Xander Harris was not amongst them. He was thinking this opportunity, at least after a fashion, was maybe his only chance to save the woman he'd loved, the same woman he'd left at the altar and hurt so badly. ( _I know it's risky and probably completely stupid, but when the hell did __**that **__ever stop me before? Especially both times I brought Buffy back to life. _)

So Xander's voice – filled with the pain of lost love – was heard to yell out, "DO IT!"

* * *

**Unknown place, unknown time**

The fact was that altering history in this manner wasn't the same thing as just rebooting your desktop computer when the system is about to crash. And the higher power whom Robe Boy served wasn't omnipotent or omniscient either. The Key was properly integrated into the timeline, as promised. However, something went wrong with the original plan.

Maybe the monks were a little off in their aim of making sure the Key fell under the blonde Slayer's protection. Or maybe when Glory came barging into the monastery that day, the abbot changed his mind on the most suitable choice of guardian. Or maybe it was something else entirely. Whatever the reason, Dawn Summers was never born.

Instead, Dawn Harris was born to Anthony and Jessica Harris two years after her big brother showed up on the scene...

TBC...


	2. Starting Over

See Prologue for disclaimer and details. Hello everyone, and wow! Thank you all for all the reviews so far, we weren't expecting quite so many just for the prologue. Hmm, with regards to Dawn's outburst, a number of people have mentioned that the Scoobies never thought that they could kill/destroy the First, just 'scrunch' it (whatever that truly means). This may be true; what we were trying to convey from Dawn saying that is that she was very emotional over all the recent killing and destruction, and she went into denial after hearing that the First Evil had gotten what it wanted all along. After all, how would YOU feel if someone told you that your friends' gruesome deaths were actually all for nothing?

Anyway, now that that's over with, it's time to get on with the main part of the story. And a warning; this chapter deals with some VERY adult concepts, but trust us, the rest of the fic won't be quite so dark. We're just setting the scene, as it were, for the big adventure to begin. Now, let's get to what everyone came here for...

* * *

**Part One: Starting Over**

**The Master's underground cavern, Sunnydale**

**Summer, 1982**

The ancient, ugly-looking vampire called the Master paused, suddenly sensing that something was different. He didn't know that the timeline had just been altered by the conception of Dawn Harris within her new mother's womb; he could only feel that somehow, something had changed. That things...were now different than they had been before.

Known as Heinrich Joseph Nest back when he was human, the Master had for centuries been the head of an ancient order of vampires called the Order of Aurelius. In a nutshell – he was a powerful, evil, soulless villain devoted to ritual and prophecy. Nonetheless he had been entombed in the sewers beneath Sunnydale for the past forty-five years, given that he had been devoted to bringing back the Old Ones (the demons that had ruled the Earth, millions of year ago) and initiate the extermination of humanity. Unfortunately, he had failed...

And so the Master had gotten stuck in this underground church, which had been buried in the earthquake of 1937 along with him. Imprisoned by mystical forces, unable to leave his underground cage, he had survived this long by bidding his minions to find people for him to feed from...

But even so, the Master had been getting weaker and weaker as the decades passed, and he knew it.

"Luke," the Master said deceptively softly to his minion, dismissing the feeling that something had changed as more-or-less irrelevant.

"Yes, Master?" the tall, well-built minion immediately replied.

"It is time," Nest said simply, knowing that Luke would understand what that meant.

Indeed he did. The acolyte began a ritual that would put his sire into a state of suspended animation, within a pool of blood. It was the only way to prevent the onset of brain damage, until the Hellmouth became more active with the arrival of the Slayer; the Chosen One whose death, according to immutable prophecy, would free the Master at last.

The ritual was soon finished, and Heinrich Nest a.k.a. the Master vanished beneath the surface of the red liquid. Gone, but only for now, and certainly not forgotten.

* * *

**Sunnydale High School, Sunnydale**

**Late September, 1995**

"Dude! We made it, we're finally freshmen!"

Xander Harris, fourteen years old and with both eyes intact, tried to ignore the too-loud, too-dorky voice of his best friend Jesse McNally as they got off the bus. But the other boy didn't know when to stop. "Look at this place, man. It's Sunnydale High, _**the**_ Sunnydale High School! We're in the big leagues now, no more junior high crap!"

"Jesse, did it ever occur to you that it's fundamentally wrong to be excited about being in school?" Xander asked hopelessly. "Now if you were talking about study hall so that we could read the latest Spiderman comic, I'd be right there with you. But Math? History? English, or even French class? What the heck's wrong with you?"

Jesse seemed to deflate a little. "Uh, well. When you put it that way..."

Just then Willow Rosenberg – so young, and so innocent-looking at this point in time – came up to join the two teens. "There you two are! Where were you guys on the bus, I couldn't see you anywhere."

Xander shrugged. "Sorry, Will, first day crowd I guess."

Cordelia Chase and her friends came strolling by from the parking lot. They too were just children during this era. And these rich girls had had their family chauffers drive them to school so as not to have to mix with the riff-raff on the bus.

Upon seeing this assortment of enticing female flesh, Jesse's features instantly exhibited desperate longing, Willow's unabashed fear and Xander's melted into annoyed boredom. So naturally he was the one the Queen of Mean instantly zeroed in on.

"Well, well, well. Xander Harris at Sunnydale High, who'd have thought it. Weren't you supposed to have been kept back a year, you retard?" Cordy sneered at her nemesis ever since kindergarten.

"Oh, lemme guess, Daddy's money managed to smooth things over yet again with Principal Martin last year?" Xander glared at the attractive female brunette.

"What's that supposed to mean?" the Chase girl demanded, as the Cordettes looked knowingly amongst themselves.

Xander pointed at a group of seniors not far away. A tall, well-built blonde football player was talking and laughing with his friends. "That thing with Darryl Epps? Go ahead, Will, tell them what you told me earlier."

Poor Willow looked like a deer caught in headlights, "Uh, well, Chris sorta mentioned at the science fair...that Darryl was complaining how you-"

"What? What did he say I did, you pathetic little worm!?" Cordelia shouted at the other girl, not letting her finish. "Come on, I dare you to say it. Hell, I double dare you! Let's all hear what your Sears-wearing, fashion-reject ass has to say!"

"Nothing!" Willow babbled fearfully. "Chrisdidn'tsayanythinghejustkindasortamentionedth eweatherwasn't-"

"Never mind, Wills," Xander sighed, noticing how distressed his female pal was getting. Then he quickly grinned. "So, Cordelia. Going to try out for the cheerleading squad? 'Cause I'm sure the coach of the football team is gonna want nothing less than the best for all his boys. Y'know, like a fluffer on a movie set."

Some of the sheep openly gasped. Cordy herself looked confused. "What?"

Her best friend Harmony Kendall whispered what that was in her ear. Cordelia's face went white at the thought of becoming some football star's sex aid, and then she became scarlet with rage. "OOOH! That's it. You're disgusting slime, Xander Harris!" She then finally appeared to notice Jesse looking at her that way. "Dream on, you little twerp! Just for the record, you come any closer and my father will sue you and your parents for harassment!"

So saying, Cordelia whirled around and left, her entourage faithfully trailing behind her. Jesse just sighed and then poked Xander in the side. "Dude, do ya hafta constantly provoke her like that? How am I ever gonna get her to go out with me if my best friend is someone Cordelia hates, like, completely?"

Xander just slung a friendly arm around Willow's shoulders, completely missing the dreamy expression on the red-haired girl's face. As they walked off Harris tossed over his shoulder, "Can't believe I'm actually agreeing with Cordy on anything, but may as well face it. What she said – ain't never gonna happen, pal."

* * *

**17619 White Oak Drive, Sunnydale**

**Later that night**

"Hey, boy! Didn't I tell you to take out the garbage already?"

Xander winced, his left shoulder aching after Rodney Munson had beaten him up today. Oddly enough, Harris had finally managed to get a hard right cross into the older boy's face and made him back off in astonishment. Well, with any luck, maybe the bully would go find some other fresh meat to torment from now on. Apparently, he didn't like it if his prey fought back.

Just like Anthony Harris.

Even though his father's voice was slurred by alcohol, there was no room for misinterpreting that order. So Xander got up from the kitchen table and started hauling out the large collection of beer bottles, pizza boxes and Mickey D leftovers outside.

Sometimes, the youth wondered if he was making up for the sins of a past life. His father was, to put it bluntly, a nightmare. His mother had lately started to drink herself. About the only bright spot in his life, apart from Jesse and Willow, was his little sister Dawn.

As far as Xander knew, kids were supposed to live in a loving home. On TV they got hugs and kisses on their birthdays, presents and chocolate cake. They didn't get a vicious backhand when the whiskey couldn't be found. They didn't get lacerations trying to protect a little sister from the flying cutlery.

They didn't spend Christmas camping outside after dark, to avoid the drunken family brawls.

As Xander trooped back into the kitchen, he suddenly heard Dawn scream. "What the-" The boy instantly ran towards the source of the sound. He was afraid of his father, but if his sister was terrified enough to yell like that it meant the situation was even worse than usual.

Upstairs, Tony was drunk – but not as much as he wanted to be. "Stupid little brat," he snarled at the cowering twelve-year-old girl. "Now where the hell is my money? I know you took it!"

"I didn't touch your wallet, Dad! Honest!" Dawn pleaded with the man.

"Bull. You lying bitch," Anthony muttered. Then he noticed how her slight bosom was heaving up and down in fear. Unfortunately Tony was drunk enough not to be thinking very clearly, either about what he had suddenly decided to do nor all the possible consequences of the act. "Well, now..."

Dawn's eyes widened with horror as her father unbuckled his pants and unzipped his fly. "XANDER!" The girl instinctively shrieked for her big brother at the top of her lungs, almost certainly alerting the neighbors.

"Shut up!" Tony ordered her, advancing forward.

At that moment Xander came tearing into Dawn's room, and the scene that greeted him was one that surpassed any and all of his childhood nightmares. His father's pants were down around his knees as the man got to within arm's reach of his daughter.

There was no time to think, either about actions or intentions. Therefore Xander acted without thinking. He ran up to Tony and put all of his teenage strength into a single lucky punch that landed flush on the middle-aged man's mouth, forcing him away from Dawn.

Needless to say, Tony did not take that well. With a bestial roar he started attacking his son, raining blow after blow upon Xander's head and body. The only reason Harris senior didn't kick Xander to death was that his trousers were still down around his knees, and he couldn't focus enough to pick them up.

"DADDY! DAD! STOP IT, YOU'RE KILLING HIM!" Dawn hollered in mortal fear.

At that moment Jessica came running into the bedroom. Her eyes went wide. "Tony! Stop!" she yelled.

The adult woman was finally able to restrain her husband long enough to say, "Stop it! What have you done? For God's sake, Tony, what have you _**done**_!?"

Finally, the blinding red veil of murderous fury fell from the man's mind and Anthony Harris looked down at Xander in stunned disbelief. The boy was bleeding heavily, almost like a stuck pig. He was also laying on the floor and not moving. Tony honestly wasn't sure if he'd killed the kid or not.

Then the would-be rapist noticed his daughter cowering in the corner of her room. Dawn's eyes were fixed on the broken form of her brother as she started twitching spastically.

"Oh, Christ..." the man muttered, suddenly sobering up fast.

* * *

**Sunnydale General Hospital, Sunnydale**

**The next morning**

Jessica Harris was one very worried customer.

The Sunnydale PD had arrived last night after she had called for an ambulance. They had also gotten a number of calls from the neighbors. Even though Mrs. Harris didn't know it, a report of the incident had reached the desk of the Deputy Mayor Allan Finch. He was the one who had subsequently given the bluesuits their orders on how to deal with this...situation.

The cops had arrested her husband, and he was currently languishing in the town jail. No doubt that right now Tony was getting pissed, and not just from the hangover. But Jessica couldn't afford to think about him for the moment; for once, her children had to take priority.

If she was going to be honest with herself, the middle-aged woman wasn't exactly proud of her record as a mother. She had tried her best, but ever since Anthony had seriously started hitting the sauce it had just gotten too hard. Alexander and Dawn...well, they hadn't deserved what had happened last night, and Jessica knew she should have been there earlier to stop it. ( _God, what's going to happen now?_ )

"Mrs. Harris?"

Jessica looked up from her seat in shock. "Oh! I'm sorry, you startled me."

"My apologies," the nurse said as Jessica got up. "I'm here to tell you that your son is now officially out of danger. Alexander's been injured very badly, but fortunately his wounds weren't life-threatening."

"Thank God. What about Dawn?" Jessica demanded.

The nurse hesitated. "I'm afraid she has to stay in the psych ward for the time being."

"What!? Why?" Jessica wanted to know.

The nurse cocked her head slightly, eyes narrowing. "Ma'am, your daughter went into hysterics when we tried to separate her from her brother last night. She had to be forcibly restrained when he went into surgery, and given a very strong sedative. You signed off on the paperwork, don't you remember?"

"I...no, I guess not. Everything's just...kind of a blur," Jessica confessed.

The nurse was sympathetic. "I understand. I'll keep you posted." Then the woman walked away. She always had a lot of work to do, especially in this town.

"Jessica Harris?"

Jessica whirled around to see a thirty-something woman in a dark suit, with a severe expression on her face. "Yes?"

"I'm Janette Macnaught, with Child Services. We've received a report about what happened last night, and I'm here to conduct a complete investigation into this domestic abuse incident. I need you to come with me to answer a few questions."

"What? No, I can't! I can't just leave. What about my kids?" Jessica demanded.

Janette just stared at her. "Someone's being sent here to look after that side of things. And ma'am, I'm afraid this isn't a request. According to the Sunnydale PD, last night your son was viciously attacked by his father and your daughter ended up in a severe state of shock. It's my job to determine exactly what's going on, and to safeguard the welfare of the children. I also need to determine culpability in these matters in my report to the court. Now, are you going to cooperate or not?"

Jessica gulped again. ( _Why do I get the feeling this isn't going to end well?_ ) Finally surrendering to the inevitable, she silently followed the other woman to the front doors of the hospital.

* * *

**Child Protective Services unit, Sunnydale**

**A week later**

Janette put aside her cup of coffee and stared at the case file in front of her. The pages of information were a concise history of the people she was currently interested in and assigned to.

Case number 52510C/95/H. Harris, Alexander Lavelle and Harris, Dawn Jessica. Siblings, one fourteen years old and the other twelve. Both children currently in hospital.

Parents: Anthony Harris, currently incarcerated, and charged with first degree child abuse and intended sexual assault. Jessica Harris, recently deceased from an accidental overdose of sleeping pills after being found to be an unfit mother.

Known relatives: Rory Harris, former taxidermist by profession, now retired. Current whereabouts unknown. Carol Harris, divorced mother in Fresno: with one daughter, Karen Harris, currently suffering from severe asthma. Unable to afford raising two other kids.

Janette sighed. Sometimes she hated this job. But like Mayor Wilkins had said in a recent speech, "the children are our future", and someone had to make the decisions in a situation like this. ( _It's just, where's someone like Mother Teresa when you really need her? Or even John B. Watson_. )

The woman picked up the phone and spoke to her assistant, "Please tell them to come in."

A family of three then filed into the office. A dark-haired man in his early 40's, a blonde woman who was his wife, and their prepubescent dark-haired daughter.

"Welcome. Please sit down, Mr. and Mrs. Chase. And this is Cassandra, am I right?" Janette asked as she pasted a professional smile on her face.

"Where's Dawn? Why haven't I been allowed to see her?" the seventh grader demanded of the social worker. An unexpected by-product of the new timeline, no doubt she would be able to give her big sister Cordelia a run for her money in a few more years.

"Cassandra, please. I'm sure you and your friend will be allowed to catch up soon," Julia Chase said to her younger offspring. Then she turned to Janette, "Sorry about that."

"That's quite all right," Janette brushed aside the apology. "Now, Mr. and Mrs. Chase-"

"Please, call me David. And my wife is Julia," Mr. Chase said with a politician's disarming smile.

"As you wish. Now as you're no doubt aware, an unfortunate incident has recently taken place with the Harris children, and it's part of my job to find them some temporary housing until a more permanent resolution of this matter can be established. In an interview I had with Dawn, when asked who she wanted to stay with, she replied, 'my best friend Cassandra.' That's why-"

"Daddy! You have to let her stay with us! You _**have**_ to! Dawnie's been my bestest friend since we met in kindergarten!" Cassandra blurted out.

Janette briefly glanced at the little girl. ( _Well, it's pretty obvious what her opinion on the matter is. No surprises there, just as I suspected_. ) "David, Julia – perhaps we can discuss this while your daughter waits outside?"

Julia nodded and took a protesting Cassandra away, shutting the door after promising her child they wouldn't be long. "Again, I'm sorry for her behavior. But Cassandra's been pretty upset after she heard the news about her friend," Mrs. Chase explained as she sat down again.

"Please, it's absolutely fine," Janette again brushed the woman's apology aside. "Now, I need to ask you both: how do you feel about taking in the Harris girl?"

David and Julia briefly glanced at one another. "What about the boy, what's his name? Alexander?"

Janette sighed. She'd been expecting this. "Well, I'd prefer not splitting them up if that's at all possible. In cases such as this, sibling comfort is always a big factor in overcoming such a severe physical and emotional trauma. However, that begs the question: would you two be willing to temporarily take in Dawn's brother as well?"

David looked at his wife again, before returning his gaze to the Macnaught woman. "Let us sleep on it, and we'll get back to you with our decision tomorrow?"

Janette nodded. "Of course. And thank you, I'm sure that not many people would be as generous as yourselves in a matter like this."

* * *

**Chase Manor, Sunnydale**

**Later that night**

"MOM! Are you and Dad crazy!?"

Luckily, Cordelia's shout couldn't be heard outside the sound-proofed library. Both David and Julia knew the hard way how all servants loved to eavesdrop, and so had chosen this place to broach the subject with their firstborn. "For heaven's sake, dear, please calm down..." Mrs. Chase started to say.

"Calm down? CALM DOWN? I can't believe this! Okay, fine, I don't have any problems with Dawn staying here. She and Cassandra can hang out without my little sister bugging me all the time. But you also want me to live under the same roof as Xander freaking Harris? He hates me as much as I hate him! It'd be like, like wearing purple and red together in the same outfit. Can you say, pure disaster?" Cordelia ranted.

Mr. Chase stared at Cordelia, contemplating what to do. He hadn't expected his oldest daughter to be so vehement about this. "Why exactly do you two hate each other?" David suddenly asked.

Cordy gaped at her dad. In her mind, it was as if the man had just questioned why the sky was blue or the grass was green. "It's obvious!" she finally spluttered out.

"Obvious how, dear?" Julia asked.

"Well, Xander's a complete loser! I mean, have you even seen what kind of horrible clothes he wears? Plus, the people he hangs out with! That idiot Jesse and that dweeb Willow. The big dorkhead doesn't even have the brainpower to realize how those two are like a complete death sentence on your social status. He's not into sports or anything either, so how could we _**not **_hate each other?"

"I see," Mr. Chase frowned. "Well, apparently after he woke up in the intensive care ward, that boy said in no uncertain terms to Ms. Macnaught that no one was separating him from his sister. That she was the only thing he had left, now that his mother's dead and his father's going to prison-"

"What?" Cordelia interrupted, looked astonished. ( _Wow, so all the rumors flying around the school lately really are true? Guess that means I really do owe Harmony a free pedicure. _)

"Yes. So that means both those children will now be heading for an orphanage or temporary foster home, if you're so determined not to have the Harris boy live here," Julia finished for her husband. "And if that's the case, young lady, _**you're**_ the one who's going have to explain to Cassandra why her best friend won't be staying with us after all."

Cordelia paled. She knew, far better than her parents, just what kind of monster Cassandra could become if her brat of a sister set her mind to it. The cheerleader knew for sure, even if she couldn't prove it, that the little imp constantly raided her closet and jewelry box; even though she had the finest stuff of her own.

Cordelia ground her teeth together in frustration. Finally she exploded, "FINE! You guys win, Xander can stay here as well. But don't expect me to be happy about it, or even welcome him into my home. And if he's not out of here soon, I won't be held responsible for the consequences!"

She stormed out of the library as Cordelia's parents looked at one another. "Well, that could have gone better. Tell me, dear, do you really think we're doing the right thing?" Julia felt she had to ask.

David Chase shrugged. "Like Janette said, it's only temporary until something more permanent is decided upon by Child Services. And our little girl does have her heart set on having her best friend live here. Okay, like you, I'm little concerned about her brother, especially if he's anything like his father. But apparently the boy did everything in his power to prevent his sister from getting raped that night, so I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt for now."

It also didn't hurt that David's political advisor had informed him that taking in the Harris children could only help his future candidacy for the U.S. House of Representatives, making him appear a generous and concerned man of the community, but only if they didn't split up the two kids.

"I suppose," Julia said with a sigh. "All right then, I guess it's settled. As soon as he can leave the hospital, we have two new houseguests for a while. After all, it's not like we don't have plenty of room for them."

TBC...


	3. Choices

See Prologue for disclaimer and details. Hi all, and welcome to the latest chapter of the story. Big thanks to everyone's been reading and reviewing, it really is appreciated. Please keep it coming! Okay, it's one a.m. in the morning here, so let's cut it short and get to the good stuff...

* * *

**Part Two: Choices**

**Sunnydale High School, Sunnydale**

**Early October, 1995**

Xander Harris got out of the Chase limousine, easily ignoring the death glare Cordelia sent him before she went off to search for her flock of airheads.

Recent events had left him a very changed young man. The mask of the clown had been stripped away because the family's dirty laundry was no longer a secret in any way, shape or form. Xander knew there was no point trying to hide anything any longer.

Ever since he had woken up in the hospital he'd been quiet, suspicious, cynical and constantly on the lookout for trouble. His world now only had one focus: Dawn. Her safety and welfare was Xander's solitary concern these days, after learning of his mother's death and his father's...situation. Therefore he hadn't objected to moving in with the Chase family, even though he didn't particularly like any of them, because they had one big redeeming feature: their wallets.

Those people could give his little sister everything she needed until they got kicked out, or he was old enough to get a job and they could find a place of their own. So putting up with Cordelia Chase and her seething disgust seemed a cheap price to pay for that to happen.

At that moment Willow and Jesse came flying into the parking lot, and the redheaded hacker grabbed her crush into a huge embrace. "Xander, you're here! You're okay!"

"What, you guys thought I was dead?" Xander asked curiously, as Willow let go and gasped at the sight of all the bruising. It looked even worse now than when she and Jesse had briefly visited him in the hospital. Xander noticed and said, "It's okay, Will. I mean the doctors said I'll be fine, ya know?"

"If you say so." Then the trio started heading for the school building.

"Dude, the rumor mill has been going crazy around here for the past week or two! I mean, I heard that your dad's in jail and your mom died, but I..." Jesse broke off at seeing his buddy's change in expression. "Hey, Xand, I'm sorry. I guess I didn't..."

"It's okay, Jess," Harris shrugged. "Y'know, shit happens."

"What?" Willow demanded as they all stopped. "Xander, that's your mom you're talking about!"

He shrugged again. "Yeah, well, she's gone now, Will. Nothing I can do about it. I gotta focus on Dawn, she's the only thing that's important anymore." Xander started off again as a disbelieving Willow and Jesse trailed after their classmate.

Not far away, Cordelia stood with her so-called friends as they stared at Xander and the other two social outcasts. "I can't believe it. Harris is actually living with you?" one of the girls named Gwen asked the leader of the pack.

Cordelia flipped her hair around. "I know! God, it totally sucks. Even worse than a root canal."

"Just look at him," the Cordette known as Kate grimaced in distaste.

"Yeah. You can take the loser out of the projects, but not the projects out of the loser!" the girl named Joy said.

"Where do you think Xander got that shirt, the Salvation Army?" Harmony asked, as all the girls laughed. "God, I bet you must be counting the days till he and his sister get kicked out. When's that going to be happening, anyway?"

Cordy hesitated. "I don't know for sure, but it can't be too long. I mean, my family does have a reputation to maintain."

"Of course," the girl named Aura spoke up. "I mean, it's not as if your parents could be planning to adopt those two."

"No way!" Harmony looked sick as she looked at Cordelia. "I mean, can you imagine it? Xander Harris as your step-brother?"

There was a chorus of 'ewwws' from all the girls as the herd strolled towards the main building, young, beautiful, happy and carefree. But that was all just a mask for public show. Deep down, the majority of them were cruel and intolerant harpies who enjoyed making others miserable, simply because they could.

Cordelia, despite her shallow and spoiled exterior, wasn't like her followers – there was a real brain behind that gorgeous visage. That was part of why she was Queen C to her peers, even as a freshman. And that was why she never confused fantasy with reality. She knew just how persuasive Cassandra could be, even at this age. And the female teen also knew that if she really wanted to, Little Sis could eventually talk their parents into adopting Dawn. So if that were to happen...

Yep, the unthinkable was definitely a possibility. Contingency plans were now therefore the order of the day.

* * *

**Chase Manor, Sunnydale**

**Later that night**

Xander sat on his bed, reading a comic book. But he had one ear cocked and primed to hear Dawn screaming for help if Mr. Chase should turn out to be anything like..._**him**_.

Any child psychiatrist could have told you that a horrible experience like what both Harris kids had gone through doesn't just magically vanish from one's memory. Even though this was the Hellmouth, which made people repress anything which just didn't fit into their blinkered little human world-view, that didn't extend to ordinary domestic violence. There would be scars for the rest of Xander and Dawn's lives.

He'd thought about it, and the boy knew that if worse came to worst around here he couldn't take David Chase in a fight. The guy was a lot bigger than his father, not to mention he was also way rich and mega-powerful. But Xander figured that he could at least set fire to the mansion and head for LA with Dawn, before the cops could come looking for them...

Oh, yeah. Talk about issues.

A knock on the door distracted Harris from the X-men attempting to rebuild their school after that cowardly attack from the Hellfire Club. The teenager quickly got up and answered it, only to be surprised by Cordelia barging into his new room.

"We so need to talk!" the brunette beauty exclaimed.

Xander shut the door behind her, saying nothing. After a few moments Cordy noticed and demanded imperiously, "Well? Say something!"

Xander shrugged. "Feel free to drop dead of a wasting disease during the next thirty seconds."

Balling her fists, the furious Chase girl somehow resisted the overwhelming temptation to let fly at this nerd, guns blazing. "What the hell is your problem, you geek?"

"Gee, Cor, lemme think. Mom's dead, dad's in jail. Odds are someone's eventually going to try to split me up from Dawnie, once your parents throw us out of here and we get put in the system. What do you think my problem is? I'll give you a hint; it sure isn't being concerned about playing nice in here with you."

The venomous words stung, as Cordelia considered the male teen standing opposite her. She unwillingly came to the conclusion that her old sparring partner had been through a lot lately, and that her attitude wasn't helping. "Whatever. Can we talk?"

"Go ahead."

"My friends and I were discussing the situation today," Miss Chase said. "And I've been doing a lot of thinking about all this ever since."

"So?" Xander asked impatiently.

"Well, I came to the conclusion that since we're currently stuck together, how you look reflects on me personally. I mean you're living in my house, you're eating my food – you may as well be an honorary Chase! That's why we definitely need to make some changes around here."

"Such as..." Xander now had a look of sardonic amusement on his face.

"Well, for a start, your entire wardrobe has got to go." Cordelia looked him up and down carefully. "Just look at you, what you're wearing. That shirt and those pants – yuck, much? And those shoes! I'm telling the maid to throw out all of your clothes-"

"Might be kind of a bad idea. I don't fancy the notion of turning up at school tomorrow buck naked."

The young woman was stunned for a moment. "What?"

"Newsflash, Cordelia. Not all of us are born rich and can spend money the way you do. Dawn and I are broke; the house and everything else the Harris family had either belongs to my dad, or it's been sold to pay the bills. And I already told your parents, as far as I'm concerned? Whatever Dawn needs she can have from them, but I'm not accepting anyone's charity. Least of all yours," Xander spat.

Cordelia wanted to bang her head against a brick wall in frustration. "You think I'm doing this for you? Wake up, dummy! I'm doing this not to give all my enemies at school any ammunition to use against me. Hell, I'll _**pay**_ you to get rid of all that flannel and polyester while you're living here!"

( _Yeah, guess she would at that. Still..._ ) "Why bother, though?" Xander wanted to know. "I mean, we're not going to be here that long, I'm sure you can ride it out till Dawn and I-"

"And what if this doesn't turn out to be just temporary?" Cordy interrupted. "Think about it, Xander. You've gotten your foot in the door, whether you intended to or not. Plus Cassandra can wrap my parents around her little finger even better than I can. And just how many people would be eager to adopt someone your age, anyway? Keep your noses clean, and you and Dawn might just be staying here for the long haul. How's _**that**_ grab you?"

The young man hesitated. This possibility had quite simply not occurred to him before now. But then he shook his head and said, "Never going to happen. Not with the Harris family reputation."

"Yeah, well, I can't afford to just blindly hope for the best," Cordelia snapped impatiently. "Some of us like to plan against disaster, you know. So on Saturday you, me, Dawn and Cassandra are going shopping. And you don't have any excuse to get out of it."

"Actually, I was gonna go look for an after-school job. Dawn can be an honorary Chase if you want, but I intend to pay your parents for room and board," Xander said firmly.

The girl sighed. "Fine, whatever. But you can go look for a job next weekend, okay? Right now, damage control mode takes priority. So just do what I say, or else!"

"Or else what?"

"You really don't want to know," Cordelia said with a glare, before she swept out of the room.

* * *

**Sunnydale High School, Sunnydale**

**Monday October 9****th****, 1995**

Xander got out of the limo, feeling very uncomfortable.

He hated his new clothes, even if he was forced to admit he didn't look half-bad in them. Cordelia Chase certainly had an eye for fashion, no matter what else you could say about her. ( _Damned if she'll ever hear me tell her that, though._ )

As Harris suspected, his old enemy's bonus reward for the shopping expedition had been his own personal discomfort. A gleeful Cordy had forced Xander to carry her bags all over the goddamn mall as Dawn and Cassandra trailed along, chatting away and driving the young man to the verge of going postal.

In addition, some of the clothing prices had left Xander gasping for breath, but Cordelia hadn't even batted an eyelash as she'd presented her charge card and the binge had begun. He'd put his foot down about some things Dawn had wanted to buy, though; there was no point in encouraging her about that sort of thing.

"Xander! What are you wearing?"

He heard Willow's voice and caught a glimpse of Cordelia's smirking features, before she left and the male part of the equation turned around to greet his friends. "Hey, guys."

"Dude! Check you out!" Jesse exclaimed. "Designer labels? What happened?"

Harris grimaced. "Have you ever seen Cordelia in shopping mode? Yecch. Reminds me of those fish we saw in Biology class once, what were they called? Piranhas, I think. Well, let me tell you, Saturday afternoon was a freaking nightmare as far as I was concerned."

"She bought you clothes?" Willow found it hard to believe, even with the proof right in front of her.

"Yeah, well, girls' day out. I was the packhorse, and I guess the Chase women are pretty much just born to shop," Xander grumbled. "Still, Dawn enjoyed herself, so I guess I can't complain too much. Thank God, she's finally beginning to get over what happened last month."

There was a moment of uncomfortable silence before Jesse said, "Uh, moving on. Xander? Cordelia wouldn't have spent money on you if she wasn't starting to warm up to you a little, right? So, so, did you put in a good word for me?"

Willow rolled her sea-green eyes, ignoring that as Harris nodded. "Xander, what's going on? I thought you said you weren't gonna accept any charity from the Chase's. What made you change your mind?"

"I haven't changed my mind on anything, Will. This is strictly a business arrangement between me and Cordy," Xander hastened to explain. "I don't make her look bad by association, and she doesn't give me any hassles while Dawn and I are staying there. Capisce?"

Miss Rosenberg nodded, but she still didn't look convinced as the three friends headed for class. And just like last week, not far away, Cordelia and the Cordettes closely monitored the 'dork squad' as they called it.

"I can't believe it. Is that actually Xander?" Harmony asked in disbelief, staring at the former class clown.

"Yeah, of course it is. What, you think I get driven to school with complete strangers now?" Cordelia snapped automatically.

"Wow. I never thought Harris could clean up so good," Aura remarked, checking out the dark-haired boy.

"Yeah, just look at him. Cordy, you totally kick ass! You managed to turn a complete doofus into decent eye candy!" Joy tried to suck up to her leader. "And in less than a week, too!"

Cordelia preened at hearing that, even though she was perfectly well aware of what her sycophantic minion was trying to do. "Hmmm. Guess I did, didn't I?"

"So what's the story on when Xander and Dawn are gonna leave your place, anyway?" Kate wanted to know.

A shadow seemed to briefly pass over the Chase girl's face. "I still don't know, but it can't be too much longer..."

* * *

**Chase Manor, Sunnydale**

**A few days later**

"Ah, Alexander, come in. Shut the door and sit down, will you? We need to talk."

( _I'm sure we do._ ) Xander entered the library and did as he was told. Mr. Chase sat down on the couch opposite him. "What's this about, sir?" Harris asked.

David Chase eyed the boy quizzically for a moment. "Mm, just out of curiosity. Your sister doesn't call me sir, so why do you insist on doing so?"

"Dawn isn't old enough to understand, sir. But I am. We're guests in your house, and it'd be pretty rude to address you as anything else."

The older man appreciated the candor. "Well, as I said, we need to talk. I got a phone call from Ms. Macnaught today; apparently, your case is finished in terms of review. She asked whether or not you and Dawn were ready to leave here, and how soon it could be arranged."

( _Thought as much._ ) "I'd say if you could give me a day or so to break the news to Dawnie gently, sir, we could be out of your hair by then."

Mr. Chase looked a little surprised. ( _He wants to go? I'd lose any opportunity of making more of a political profit out of this._ ) "I see...Alexander, does that mean that you don't want to stay here? I mean, I thought you and Cordelia were finally starting to get along, at least more-or-less."

"It's not that, Mr. Chase," Xander tried to explain himself. "I wouldn't mind staying here, and I'm sure that Dawn would be totally thrilled at the opportunity. I mean, from what I've seen she and Cassandra are almost acting like sisters these days. It's just – this isn't our home, and we've enjoyed your hospitality for long enough. It's time for me and Dawnie to face reality, that's all."

David raised an eyebrow. "Look, son-"

"Please don't call me that, sir," Xander interrupted politely yet firmly. "With all due respect, you're not my father. And as far as I'm concerned, I don't really have one anymore. Not in any way that matters, at least."

The harsh words seemed all wrong coming out the mouth of someone so young, Mr. Chase thought to himself fleetingly. "As you wish. So tell me, Alexander, just what do you think is going to happen once you and Dawn walk out our front door?"

Xander shrugged. "Honestly, sir?"

"Please."

"Well, Sunnydale doesn't have any orphanages as far as I know, so Dawn and I will probably end up in Los Angeles. I've heard of a place that a few other kids in town have been sent to, a children's home on Plummer Street. And like Cordy said to me recently, Dawn's still young enough for a good chance at adoption, but I'm not. So if we want to stay together, we'll probably end up on the streets, unless I can find some sort of job to take care of her on my own," Xander said simply. "Odds are against it for someone my age, though, unless I drop out of high school and lie to everyone about how old I really am."

( _The boy certainly has few illusions about what this world's really like, I have to give him that,_ ) David thought to himself. "Well. That seems a very defeatist kind of attitude, I have to say."

"Just being realistic, sir," Xander replied calmly.

"I see. So, Alexander, realistically speaking, what do you think Cassandra will say and do once she learns about this conversation?"

"She'll be very upset about losing Dawn's friendship and company, but eventually she'll get over it. I'm sure you and your family will help her through that," Xander said as diplomatically as possible.

Mr. Chase leaned forward and noted with slight discomfort how the teenager instantly recoiled. "Is there a problem, Alexander?"

"No, Mr. Chase."

David was briefly annoyed at the blatant lie. "Look. Let's cut the crap, shall we? I'm asking you, man to man. What do you want me to tell Ms. Macnaught? I mean, do you want to stay here? Do you want my wife and I to be granted custody of you and your sister, or not?"

Xander managed not to look surprised, remembering that recent conversation with this man's older daughter. He said, "If it makes Dawn happy, then yes sir, I do. Want to stay here, I mean."

( _Good, excellent!_ ) Still, Mr. Chase wasn't completely satisfied. "And what about yourself?"

"I don't care about me, sir. As long as my sister's okay and we're together, then it makes little or no difference to me where we stay. Here, or anywhere else."

Mr. Chase leaned back, deciding to let it go for now. "All right. But if you're going to stay in this house till you're eighteen, then we have to establish some ground rules. For example, you and Cordelia-"

"We've already discussed it, sir," Xander interrupted. "As a matter of fact, she suspected that this might happen a few days ago, even if I didn't."

"Really?" David felt a small gleam of parental pride at his daughter's uncanny insight.

"Yes, sir. And you don't have to worry; I'll be staying out of her way as much as possible. We've already pretty much established a routine, and it's not like I'll be socializing with her at any parties or anything like that."

"Well, good. And just so we're clear, Alexander, my wife and I aren't doing this just to indulge our youngest daughter's whim, you understand? We're doing it because we honestly don't want your sister to end up as just another statistic you read about in the newspapers. Or you yourself, for that matter." Though David Chase was sincere about his reasons, he left unstated the PR advantages he might reap if his political aspirations panned out as he hoped.

Deep down, Xander didn't believe what he'd just heard one iota. But all he said was, "Thank you, sir, that's very kind of you to say. May I be excused now? I need to talk to Dawnie about all this."

Mr. Chase gestured, and Xander got up and walked out of the library. Not long afterwards Mrs. Chase walked in. "How did it go?"

"All right, I guess," David replied with a frown. "But there's something about that boy, something about how he..."

"He doesn't exactly act like a child his age?"

The middle-aged man slowly nodded. "Yes, I suppose. Well, he certainly doesn't act like Cordelia, that's for sure."

"Give it time, dear," Julia advised. "After all, both Alexander and his sister have been through something horrible. Dawn still won't talk about what happened that night, even with Cassandra. And some of Alexander's bruises haven't disappeared yet, haven't you noticed?"

"Yes. Still, you don't think that Alexander and Cordelia will eventually kill each other or anything, do you?" Mr. Chase still seemed a little worried about that part of it.

"The way she rants about their fights all the time, I think it's far more likely that one day, they'll start dating," Julia said with a mother's smile.

"Very funny," David snorted. "Well, I'll call the social worker first thing tomorrow, and get the paperwork started."

Julia raised an eyebrow. "What about the press?"

The man who one day hoped to be a Congressman, or even better, nodded. "I'll have to see about that as well..."

* * *

**The Master's underground cavern, Sunnydale**

**The same time**

The vampire called Luke sat on the Master's intricately carved chair. He was waiting for Heinrich Nest to rise from his pool of blood, and had been doing so for over a decade now; but then, time often meant little to someone who potentially possessed eternity at his fingertips.

( _I have waited six decades for my Master's release from this foul house of worship. I can easily wait less than one more year, _) Luke thought to himself forcefully. ( _Soon, soon the time of the Harvest will arrive..._ )

He started quoting scripture, "And like a plague of boils, the race of man covered the Earth. But on the third day of the newest light shall come the Harvest. And the blood of men will flow as wine, when the Master will walk among them once more! The Earth will belong to the Old Ones, and Hell itself will finally be unleashed! Amen!"

The minion vampires knew better than to annoy the Master's regent whenever he got into one of his religious fervors like this. And none of them, not even Luke, seemed to notice the black man whom Buffy had dubbed 'Robe Boy' standing in the background and staring at the undead in distaste.

The mage, who still remembered the events of 2003, knew that he had a lot of work to do in order to carry out the higher power's orders.

TBC...


	4. Teenage Journey

See Prologue for disclaimer and details. Welcome, everyone, to the latest chapter of the story! Gotta say, thank God it's Friday; really needing the weekend to decompress, after the week from hell at work. Still, we just wanna thank everyone who's been reading and reviewing and sending feedback about the story; it makes us keep going with the writing, despite the adversities of RL. Okay, enough from us; and all you C/X fans, you'll hopefully like what we've come up with...

* * *

**Part Three: Teenage Journey**

**Sunnydale High School, Sunnydale**

**Early January, 1996**

People are great adaptors, and by this point things had settled into an established pattern in the town built upon the Hellmouth. It was the vampires' accepted role to lay low, apart from the occasional snack. It was the Mayor's accepted role to rule his domain with an iron fist from within the shadows. And it was Cordelia Chase's accepted role to make life as hellish as possible for Xander Harris, without going completely overboard about it.

Months ago, the gossip had spread like wildfire regarding the Chase elders being awarded custody of the Harris children. Most of it had been somewhat unfavorable too, what with the circumstances of Anthony Harris getting convicted and sent to jail for the next ten years.

But in a single clever move, Mr. and Mrs. Chase had defused all the whispers and possible negative publicity. They had showed up at their country club during the one day of the year when everyone who was anyone in Sunnydale was present. Dawn and Cassandra had accompanied them, dressed in matching clothes and almost looking like twins.

The young Harris girl hadn't acted like the daughter of a drunken criminal, or some sort of basket case; instead, she had behaved just like Cassandra and charmed the crowd. And when Xander, who was all decked out in a suit and tie, had subsequently escorted Cordelia into the club? It was all over, apart from the flattering article in the society pages of the 'Sunnydale Press'.

Xander himself hadn't enjoyed that day of course. He had hated every single moment of it, constantly cursing behind the pleasant exterior. The boy had later sworn to himself that it was the last time he'd ever do anything like that – even if his life depended on it. But thankfully the dog and pony show had finally ended and things had gone back to normal in school, home, and keeping an eye on Dawn.

"So, Cordelia, tell us. What's Xander Harris really like to live with?" Gwen asked as the Cordettes arrived at school on the day following New Year's break.

"Yeah, let's hear all the dirt! What does that loser get up to after school?" Harmony asked excitedly.

"Excuse me? Cordelia Chase actually shares the same house as a loser?" the girl in question demanded, determined to put an end to that topic.

Miss Kendall instantly backpedalled in alarm. "Uh, no, I just meant...never mind."

"Has Xander ever tried anything, y'know...late at night?" Aura asked in a hushed tone, diving in with the juiciest concept she could come up with.

"As if! He'd never dare!" Joy scoffed.

Cordelia turned her patented glare upon the other cheerleader. "Hello, Miss Motormouth, can I get a sentence in? I mean, who here is the one who actually has that information?"

"You mean...he _**has**_ tried something before now?" Kate asked in wonder.

"Don't be ridiculous!" Cordelia snapped. "We're not friends and my house is so huge, we hardly even see each other. What? You guys think I'm desperate enough to settle for someone like that spaz?"

"No!" "No!" all the girls said at once.

"Good! Besides, he's got that whole annoying 'big brother' thing going with Dawn and Cassandra," Cordelia huffed as the group walked up the steps leading into the courtyard.

"So, does that mean he's gonna be attending your birthday party next week?" Harmony asked.

"He lives in my house, Harm. How do you think it would look to everyone, if the guy didn't at least make a brief appearance?" Cordy wanted to know.

* * *

**Chase Manor, Sunnydale**

**Wednesday January 10****th****, 1996**

( _I'm fifteen years old today. Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me..._ ) Cordelia thought furiously to herself.

Her room looked like a complete mess from the temper tantrum. The teenager still couldn't believe how her parents had actually left for Los Angeles on some sort of 'emergency', today of all days! ( _I mean, hello, priorities? Embarrassing me in front of all my friends, by cancelling the party that way? Why do my parents hate me!?_ )

Enraged, Cordelia threw a vase at the wall and it shattered into a hundred pieces. It didn't make her feel any better, though. "I HATE MY LIFE!"

"Cordelia?" Xander's voice on the other side of the bedroom door actually sounded concerned.

"Go away!" the girl screamed angrily. "Xander, I'm not in the mood right now!"

"Listen, Cordy, are you okay in there?"

"I'M FINE!"

"You sure as hell don't sound it. Come on, lemme in. I promise, no gloating or whatever."

Glaring at him Cordelia finally opened up, yanked Xander inside and then slammed the door shut. "All right, what do you want? Hush money not to tell everyone at school about what you heard just now? If so, forget it!"

Xander held up his hands in surrender. "Okay, that's it. Just for today, can we call a cease-fire to all the hostilities? Truce, y'know. Tomorrow we can go back to hating one another. But uh, I just figured, right now, you'd be kind of upset, y'know, after what happened, and...and if you wanna talk about it...I'm willing to listen."

Cordelia had been expecting almost anything but this, to be honest. She calmed down a bit and said, "Thanks, but no thanks."

Xander shrugged. "Have it your way. But hey, today's your birthday right? So, here ya go." He held out a small gift-wrapped box.

"What?" Cordelia stared at his gift in disbelief.

The young man put the present into her hands. "It's not much by your standards, but you'd be surprised what you can pick up on a shoestring budget like mine – if you just know the right places to go to in this town. So...happy birthday, Cor."

The girl opened the present and gasped at the small gold necklace with a crucifix. "You actually got me this?"

Harris frowned. "If you don't like it, sorry to have wasted both your time and mine-"

"NO! No," Cordelia hastened to reassure him, not thrown by the gift so much as the fact that her lifetime adversary had been willing to spend money on her. "It's lovely. Xander, thank you."

"You're welcome. So, want me to put it on?"

The young woman nodded and turned her back as Xander slipped the necklace around her neck. Cordelia quickly checked herself out in the mirror, and had to admit the darn thing looked quite good on her. She turned back to her companion and said, "Xander, not that I'm complaining, but why?"

"Just my way of saying thank you. I heard recently that you didn't want me to live here with your family at first, so if you hadn't changed your mind...right now, I guess Dawnie and I would be a lot worse off. So I figure I owed you one."

"You don't owe me anything, you jerk," Cordelia said crossly, yet with a hint of affection.

"If ya say so. And now, if you're ready, Dawn and Cassandra are waiting downstairs to give you their presents as well," Xander told her.

"My sister actually got me a gift? She's never once done that before in her entire life!" Miss Chase exclaimed in disbelief. "Okay, get outta here; I've got to get dressed for school. Just wait outside till I'm done, will you?"

"You mean, I don't get the cheap thrill of watching Cordelia Chase take off her clothes for me?" Xander grinned.

"Get out, you pervert!"

* * *

**Bucky's Fondue Hut, Sunnydale**

**Not long after sunset**

"So, Willow dear, how was school today?"

The Rosenberg daughter sighed. "Okay, mom..."

The problem was, though, it had been anything but okay. Xander had blown her and Jesse off about meeting up at the ice cream bar this evening, saying that there was an emergency at the Chase house and he would have to take care of the three girls alone.

Well, that was hardly a surprise. Almost the entire school had been buzzing with the news that Cordy's birthday party had been postponed, which was like _**the**_ social event of the year. Not that she and Jesse had been invited, of course.

It just struck the computer hacker as sad that ever since Xander and Dawn had moved in with the Chase family, her oldest friend had had far less time to be with Jesse and herself. Okay, new living conditions and all, but it had really hurt that for the first time ever, the two Harris kids hadn't come over to her house on Christmas Day to watch "A Charlie Brown Christmas".

Willow picked at her food listlessly. ( _Xander, what are you up to right now?_ )

"Moshele!" Sheila Rosenberg suddenly called out. "Is that you?"

The Jewish girl looked up and saw Moshe Levinson, his wife Virginia, and their son Jonathan come over. The four adult friends then started their own conversation as the two teenagers more-or-less got shoved to the side.

"So, Ira, bubelah. How goes the psychiatry business?" Jonathan's mother asked.

"Eh, same old, same old. Would you believe there was one gentile who came in last week who started raving, "It was vampires, I tell you!" Ach, that meshuggener must have watched Dracula far too often as a child..."

Willow automatically tuned out the ridiculous small talk as all the grown-ups laughed. Her mind started focusing on the boy of her dreams again, resisting all her efforts to think about the latest wonders of Windows 95.

"You look as depressed as I feel."

The reedy, nasal voice belonging to Jonathan was enough to drag Willow out of her thoughts. "Huh? Jonathan, what-"

"That look on your face, I see it in the mirror every morning. You're wishing you were anywhere but here, right?"

Jonathan was sitting directly across from her at the table, and their mothers alongside were obviously far too engrossed in the other conversation to pay any attention. So Willow shrugged, "Kinda, I guess."

"Tell me about it. My dad says I don't get out enough, that's why he gave me two tickets to a rock concert over in Fondren this weekend. But I don't have anyone to go with me. So you want 'em?"

"Uh, who's playing?" Willow wanted to know.

"Not sure. But Cibbo Matto is one of the supporting acts, I think."

"Ooh, I love them!" the redhead suddenly gushed, forgetting to be shy in her enthusiasm. "So, so, do you think maybe we should go? Y'know, together?"

Jonathan stared at her in disbelief, the short nerd not sure that he'd heard her correctly. "You wanna go to that concert with me, instead of Xander or Jesse?"

"OH!" Willow's face went as red as her hair. "Well, I-I-I don't want to be rude, I mean they're your tickets. Plus Xander's always so busy these days, and Jesse would just be wishing that it was Cordelia there with him instead of me. So, yeah!"

* * *

**Chase Manor, Sunnydale**

**The same time**

"Xander, knock it off!"

"But Cordy, it's traditional!"

"Traditional my ass! Stop it or I know just where I'm gonna swing this baseball bat, and it's not gonna be at that piñata!"

"Spoilsport." But still the boy stopped whirling Cordelia around, and let her stagger briefly before finding her balance. "So what do ya say, you two? I betcha five bucks the birthday girl just can't pull it off."

"I'll take that bet!" Cassandra called out at once.

"Me too!" Dawn giggled.

"Will you just listen to that vote of confidence, Cor? But let's be honest here, you're gonna let them down however hard you try."

"I told you, Harris, knock it off! You can't psych me out on this one."

Cordelia slowly stepped forward in the room the four kids had commandeered for their impromptu little celebration. She took a few swings. Nothing.

"Ha! She shoots, she misses!"

"Cordelia still has one more chance to go, Xander. Don't count your chickens just yet," Cassandra said smugly.

With a mighty heave, Cordelia swung with all her might. She was rewarded by the sound of her prize exploding when the stick made contact with the stuffed paper mâché decoration. "I did it! I did it!"

"Yeah, you sure did," grumbled Xander.

Cordelia ripped off her blindfold and instantly erupted in gales of laughter. The sweets were all over the floor, and Xander was standing there licking his shirt that had been drenched with some sort of liqueur. "Oooh, tasty!" he said in delight.

"Hey! You owe us money, Xander, so pay up!" Dawn demanded.

"Well, I'm a bit short right now, Dawn-patrol. You're gonna hafta wait a while, till I can get my hands on some dead Presidents. Or maybe we can work something else out?"

"Piggyback races!" Cassandra yelled. "And I call Xander!"

"Hey, you're my sister; you're supposed to be on my side!" Cordelia said in annoyance.

"Sorry, Cordy, but face it. You may have that cheerleader stamina, but you just can't keep up with Xander's big long legs!"

* * *

**Deverau Street, Sunnydale**

**Early March, 1996**

The days and weeks had passed quickly. Harmony, having anticipated a big weakness in Cordelia's defenses thanks to that major faux pas by the Chase parents, had been stunned the next day when her friend had shown up at school like she'd just won a date with Tom Cruise or something.

The blonde female teen simply hadn't been able to understand it, until she'd noticed Cordelia constantly staring at that idiot Xander in the distance. Then it had hit the Kendall girl: her fellow cheerleader must have gotten one hell of a birthday present from that guy. And the only thing that Harmony could think of to put that sort of grin on her friend's face...

( _I don't believe it! Cordelia actually decided to lose her virginity to that...that over-evolved monkey boy? Oh my God, what was she thinking? _)

Harmony couldn't prove it, of course, but there was no doubt in her mind. Her oldest friend had stopped insulting Harris at every opportunity, plus the new dynamic between the King of Cretins and Queen C was obvious to anyone with eyes.

And this was southern California, after all. Harmony, like her friends, knew that fifteen was kinda rare for something like that – but it wasn't unheard of either. Not by any means. Fortunately, however, there was no substance to any of it and both the Harris and Chase reputations remained intact.

Anyway, right now Xander and Cordelia were inside the Chase limousine as it stopped outside the main gates of Restfield Cemetery, with school stuff the last thing on their minds.

"Are you sure you want to go alone?" the girl asked suddenly.

"I'm sure."

"I mean, I suppose I could reschedule my leg wax somehow if you really need somebody to-"

"Cordy, it's fine. Go do what girls do on a Saturday and don't worry about me. I'll be okay," Xander said in a monotone.

Cordelia shrugged. "Alright, have it your way. I'll have Roger swing by and pick you up after I-"

"I'm thinkin' I'll walk back, actually. I'll probably need the alone time afterwards. See you tonight."

Without another word, Xander got out of the car and quickly shut the door behind him. Miss Chase hesitated, but then after a moment told the driver to get moving. Harris didn't even notice as the vehicle left; his mind was completely focused on his objective near the rear of the cemetery.

His mother's grave.

This was the first time he'd ever come to this place. Jessica's rushed burial had occurred whilst he'd still been in the hospital, and even though Janette Macnaught had brought Dawn here not long afterwards to say goodbye, Xander himself had missed out on the opportunity. And after a conversation relating to Mother's Day the boy had suddenly decided that he had to do it now, today, before he chickened out forever.

Xander finally came to a halt and laid his flowers down upon the grave. The headstone was remarkably plain, in his opinion.

It read "JESSICA HARRIS 1958-1995".

Nothing else.

No descriptions like 'Beloved Wife and Mother', or 'In Loving Memory' or anything like that; just the cold, impersonal name and dates.

"Hey, Mom," Xander said nervously, looking at the stone marker. "Ah, y'know, sorry I haven't been here before now. But better late than never, I guess. Thing is I've, uh, I've been kinda busy. Like school and stuff, trying to look out for Dawn as best I can..."

He paused. "I guess first off I should thank you for what happened that night. I mean the way I heard it, if you hadn't stopped him when you did, Dad woulda killed me. I don't remember much after I hit him, actually, there's just...well, I remember majorly huge ouchies, and that's about it. Dawnie still refuses to talk about it, and I don't wanna pressure her. Not after..."

Xander stopped again for a few moments. Finally he continued, "So they told me it was an accident. You know, the overdose? You weren't able to sleep after losing custody, and that quack who prescribed the Placidyl didn't know how easy it was to OD on that stuff. And I wanna believe that that's true, I really do. But I...well, sometimes late at night, I can't help wondering whether you decided to take the easy way out. And I really hate myself for that, ya know? Especially 'cause Dad's still alive, and you're not..."

Suddenly, an expression of sheer rage erupted on Xander's face. He shouted, "What the hell was the matter with you?! Why didn't you just divorce Dad ten years ago, and get me and Dawn out of this one-Starbucks town? Things coulda been so different! But now you're dead. And I don't know what to do. How could you be so stupid? What am I supposed to do without you, Mom!? How am I gonna take care of Dawn all by myself, if the Chase's suddenly decide we're not worth the publicity stunt anymore?"

The tears started flowing then. High above Xander, the sun briefly went behind a cloud. No one else, alive or undead, was present to witness as the boy muttered his last words to the dearly departed.

"I miss you so much."

* * *

**Chase Manor, Sunnydale**

**Later that afternoon, not long before sunset**

Xander eventually arrived...home, for want of a better word. But the mansion still didn't feel like that to him, even after all these months, and he suspected there was no point in trying to force it to be. If the Chase residence would ever feel like more than a fancy hotel to his psyche, then that would have to happen in its own good time.

As he was about to go through the front door, the limo pulled up. Xander glanced towards it, expecting to see Cordelia in all her long-legged glory; but instead, Roger the chauffeur got out and opened the doors for Dawn and Cassandra.

Both of who were carrying quite a number of shopping bags and, to put it bluntly, were also looking like the proverbial cat who'd eaten the canary.

"Hey, Xander! Where were you? We had a great time at the mall this afternoon!" the younger Chase daughter exclaimed.

"Yeah, we sure did! Hey, Roger, do you think you could take care of all this stuff? Cassandra's mom phoned while we were in the car, and said we have to get ready for dinner. There's a big client of Mr. Chase's attending or something, and we really have to look our best!"

"Of course, miss," the hired help said deferentially as he took both her bags and Cassandra's.

Xander could not help noticing the way Dawn was acting, and suddenly decided they definitely needed to talk as Cassandra went indoors. "Dawnie? Could ya come with me, please, I think there's something we need to discuss. Right now."

"Later, Xander, first I have to-"

"I said _**now**_, Dawn."

That tone of voice wasn't something that Miss Harris heard from her big brother very often these days, but when he did get that way Dawn knew better than to throw a tantrum or try to pout at her sibling. So she quickly followed him upstairs to his room; and after the guy shut the door Dawn said impatiently, "Okay, so what's the dire?"

"How much of Mr. Chase's money did you spend this afternoon?"

Xander's voice was now much colder than before, and Dawn began to get a bad feeling about this. "Uh, not that much really..."

"Dawn, I know what I saw. And I know what kind of prices those places charge. You spent every dime you had, didn't you? That's why I think it's long past time we had this conversation."

"Xander..."

The young man ignored the wheedling tone, and looked straight into his sister's big brown eyes. The same chocolate-brown orbs that he himself had. Xander said, "Look, Dawn Giovanni, I don't have a problem with you going shopping with your best friend. I also don't have a problem with the Chase's giving you an allowance to buy whatever's necessary. But there's a big difference between getting what you want, and getting what you need. Do you understand what I'm sayin'?"

"Maybe you should spell it out for me," the Harris girl muttered, already unhappy with the way all this was going.

"Fine. What you _**need**_ is a roof over your head, good food, adequate clothes, medical and the chance to finish high school. Anything else right now is just gravy. Don't you get it? Our last name isn't Chase, Dawnie. Cordelia and Cassandra are the ones who are gonna inherit the family fortune one day, not us! We're charity cases here. Don't get me wrong, I'm really grateful that Mr. and Mrs. Chase took us in like that, but don't for a second assume that they owe us a damn thing. We owe _**them **_everything. Or at least, I do."

"What do you mean by that?" Dawn demanded, her eyes starting to become shiny.

"Doesn't matter," Xander said, looking uncomfortable. "Look, Dawn, I'm not trying to upset you by telling you all this, okay? I'm just saying, don't get too used to this sort of lifestyle. The money, the shopping sprees, the manor and everything else. On account of it's not permanent."

"And why's that, exactly?"

"Because after I graduate high school in about three years, that's it," Xander said grimly. "I turn eighteen and I'm a legal adult, so their parental custody thing is over. Most likely scenario is I'll have to find work right away to support us both, till you finish high school as well. Maybe Mr. Chase will be kind enough to offer me something with his company, but then again maybe he won't. No guarantees. Either way, if we have to survive on our own – it's not gonna happen by you and me being dependent on the maid for clean clothes, or the chef to make us dinner. Understand?"

The severe words were enough to instantly bring back memories of another life to Dawn Harris, one where there had indeed been no maids or Visa cards or chauffeured limousines. Or even things like strawberries plus eggs Benedict for breakfast every morning.

In that life clothes and shoes either didn't fit or had fitted very poorly, and breakfast had been cereal and toast that often smelled of beer or whiskey. And money had been damned scarce, even before her father had been laid off from his job.

That life was something which the thirteen-year-old girl had tried her best to completely repress over the last six months or so, especially the night when everything had exploded in her face and her mother had died afterwards. It wasn't something Dawn was exactly keen to remember now, either, but her brother's speech had opened the floodgates and there was no stopping the memories rushing back.

"You finally went and visited Mom's grave today, didn't you?" Dawn asked, after a burst of insight into why Xander had said all these unpleasant things to her. "That's why you're acting like this."

"Yes I did, and no it's not," Xander replied. "All that's something that I figured out shortly after we set foot in this house, but I could never find the right time to bring it up with you before now. Look, Dawn, you said you had to get changed for dinner, right? So why don't you go do that, and if you wanna talk about this afterwards – well, you know where my room is."

Dawn didn't say anything as she just filed out of the bedroom. Xander sat down on the bed and buried his head in his hands, briefly wondering if he'd just made a huge-ass mistake.

* * *

**Sunnydale High, Sunnydale**

**Three days later**

One of the proverbs to be found in Chairman Mao's little red book goes something like, 'the man who senses the wind of change should build not a windbreak but a windmill'.

In this case, there were no actual windbreaks or windmills per se, but it would not be wrong to speculate that everything would have turned out differently if Xander hadn't sensed the wind of change with regard to his friend Jesse.

"Hey, Jess! Wait up!" Xander called as he followed his buddy to the lockers.

But McNally just kept going, and as Xander reached him the boy started working the combination. "What's going on, pal? Why didn't you wait for me?" Harris asked.

Finally Jesse turned around. "Hey, I've been waiting on you for months...pal." The last word was uttered in a very sarcastic tone.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Xander demanded in confusion.

"What, are you trying to play dumb? Come on, Xander! We haven't really hung out together in ages," Jesse retorted.

Xander hesitated. He knew his friend did sort of have a point there. "Well, I-I've been busy-"

"So busy you haven't even once found the time to hang with me, during the weekends? Hell, when was the last time we went to check out the latest releases at the comic book store together?" Jesse interrupted.

"It's not that simple. I mean, I gotta look after Dawn now, she needs me," Xander tried to explain.

"Xand? She's got a whole bunch of people to look after her, the same time that they're looking after Cordelia's little sister!" Jesse said dismissively.

Harris shook his head at once. "I still don't feel comfortable leaving Dawn alone in that house. Not now, and maybe not ever."

"Why, you think someone's gonna jump out of the bushes and grab her while you're not there?" Jesse remarked scornfully.

"Well, I don't know. I mean hey, I also thought that my father would never come up with the idea to rape his twelve-year-old daughter while he was drunk – but I guess someone musta forgot to send him that memo, because y'know what? Surprise, it happened!"

The bitterness in Xander's voice was unexpectedly fierce to Jesse's ears. Thus the teen hesitated over how to reply to that one, but then his new friend Jonathan Levinson came over. Ever since that night at the restaurant and the subsequent rock concert, Jonathan and Willow had developed a close friendship, which had spilled over to include Jesse too.

"Hey. I got those phoney IDs for us to try to get into the Fish Tank tonight," Levinson said in a hushed tone to Jesse, ignoring Xander for the moment.

"That bar on Main Street?" Xander looked amazed. He then said to McNally, "Dude! One, you're really gonna get in trouble if you get caught. And two, you were gonna go there without me?"

Jesse shrugged. "Well, I thought the country club with Cordelia was more your scene these days."

Xander looked down at the clothes he had once been forced to wear practically kicking and screaming, and yet now took no notice of. At that moment, he realized just how alienated he had become from his so-called best friend. "I went there only the one time, when Mr. and Mrs. Chase asked me to put on that little performance with Cordy for the town paper. I hated every moment of it, and I think I told you that more than once. So what is your problem, _**pal**_?"

Jonathan wasn't an idiot and began to back off, letting these two have their space. Jesse glowered and said, "Okay, ya wanna know the truth? Here it is. You've had _**months**_ to try to talk Cordelia around into going on a date with me, but she still won't even give me the time of day! What's up with that, Xand? To hell with the little people?"

Xander groaned in disbelief. "You just don't get it, do you? Jesse, please try to understand: Cordelia doesn't like you." He went on even as Jesse opened his mouth, "No matter what I say to her, no matter how much of a great guy I tell her you are, she simply. Doesn't. Like. You. And for the record, I finally stopped banging my head against that particular brick wall. Because the last time I attempted to convince her what a great catch you'd be? She gave me grief over it for three days in a row! Face it. Guys like us just aren't what Cordy's looking for."

Jesse snorted, "Guys like me, you mean." He glanced around at the dark-haired geek. "Come on, Jonno. We've got class."

Jonathan shrugged helplessly in Xander's direction, and began to walk off behind his new friend. Harris didn't want it to end like that though and said, "Jesse, come on, man. We're buds, remember?"

"I think the problem is _**you**_ don't remember." The dark-haired boy just tossed the barbed remark over his shoulder. "You're like a shadow to me now."

* * *

**Chase Manor, Sunnydale**

**Not long after school**

( _You're like a shadow to me now._ )

The words echoed in Xander's mind as he thought about recent events. Not only the meeting with Jonathan and Jesse, but afterwards as well when he had tracked Willow down while she was chatting with her fat friend, the girl named Amy Madison.

Willow had been pleased to talk to him, sure, but he'd noticed there was a distance now that had never been there before. And Xander Harris didn't like that, not one bit.

( _Guess Jesse was right. When was the last time I picked up the phone and called Willow to talk about everything we did all day? Oh man, this isn't fair. But what am I supposed to do, just stop worrying about Dawnie and simply __**hope**__ that everything remains okay around here? This sucks! God, could this day possibly get any worse?_ )

In time Xander would learn never to jinx himself like that upon the Hellmouth, but that day had not yet come. Here and now, the door flew open and Cordelia stormed into the room.

"What-" Xander started to say as he got up off the bed.

He never got a chance to finish as the Chase girl slapped him across the face. "You idiot!"

"OW!" Xander put his hand to cheek before scowling at the female teen. "Okay, what the hell was _**that**_ for? I thought nowadays we were kind of friends."

"That's what I thought too, ever since my birthday! But you just had to prove me wrong by telling Dawn all that garbage, didn't you? No wonder she's been depressed and miserable lately, the poor thing thinks she's gonna get booted out of here after what you said to her on Saturday!"

Xander sighed, the anger quickly vanishing. "I better go talk to her."

"Hell no, you've done enough damage. And it's taken me this long to reassure her that Dawn can stay in this house for as long as she likes." The cheerleader glared at him.

"You shouldn't have done that," Xander instinctively glared back at her. "That's not something you can promise her, Cordelia. And I'm sorry Dawn's upset, but I'm not gonna apologize to her, or you, or anyone else about anything I said. Because all of it was God's honest truth."

"You stupid – do you really believe that Daddy's just gonna kick you and her out like that, come the day?" Cordelia looked exasperated.

"I don't know. But remember when Dawn and I first moved in? Y'know, when I thought us living here was just gonna be for a few short days? You said something to me then that I haven't forgotten. You said, 'I can't afford to just blindly hope for the best. And some of us like to plan against disaster.' It was pretty good advice too, especially considering what a spoiled princess you can often be-"

Cordelia shrieked in outrage as Xander's mouth somehow seemed to bypass his brain, and went to slap him again. But this time Harris was ready for her, and trapped both her wrists in his hands.

Goaded into a frenzy, Cordelia charged forward, pushing Xander back against his bed. The two teens lost their balance and fell onto the bed, struggling and writhing like a pair of demented sidewinders. Miss Chase kept trying to smack Xander silly before the guy finally called out, "Okay, okay, enough! You win already, Cor. Peace deal, all right? I give up here, and so do you. Agreed?"

Calming down and taking in big deep gulps of air, an emotionally turbulent Cordelia stopped her frantic motions. "Fine."

At that point, the two teens finally noticed what kind of position they had ended up in. Xander was flat on his back on the bed while Cordelia was laying on top of him, her breasts resting against his chest. Her body was undergoing a lot of changes these days, the puberty hormones were in full swing and the young woman had definitely had a bit of a growth spurt in that area.

Xander still had his hands clamped around Cordy's wrists as their deep breathing echoed throughout the room. As they stared at one another, both the boy and the girl became aware of a tension that had never existed between them before. It was the sort of tension which unexpectedly comes to life when a teenager starts that long, torturous journey into becoming an adult, and precious childhood innocence begins to fade away; the sort of tension when boys and girls discover just what all those interlocking body parts are really useful for.

Cordelia slowly lowered her head down to Xander's, maintaining eye contact with him every millisecond. "Your clothes are all wrinkled-" he started to say.

Warm. Moist. Delicious. Such was the best way to describe Xander's first kiss, as Cordelia plunged her lips onto his and Harris let go of her wrists in stunned shock.

All rational thought seemed to go flying out the window for the young man, as they furiously started to make out. But eventually, Xander had one of those moments where you feel like you're in free fall – and then land _**very**_ hard on a solid surface.

Completely lost in their mutual pleasure he now abruptly hit that solid surface, and there was an instinctive decision to take stock of the situation.

Fact: he, Xander Harris, was kissing Cordelia Chase in his bedroom. In his bed.

The richest girl at Sunnydale High had her tongue in his mouth, and was causing him to develop one hell of an erection as all the blood rushed south to his penis. It was obvious Cordy had felt it too from her sudden moan, and from the way she'd started rubbing against his groin.

Suddenly Xander grabbed her and with all his might, shoved the girl off of him. "NO!"

More than a little freaked, Harris jumped up off the bed. He bent over almost like an old man with arthritis. "Bad idea. Bad, bad, baddest idea in the entire history of bad ideas! That...that did not just happen. It was a-a-a fluke, that's what it was. And there'll be no more fluking!"

"Xander, why are you-" Cordelia started to say in confusion, as she picked herself up off the floor. She had enjoyed herself immensely, and wanted to keep on going with what they had been doing.

"You have to promise me that you won't ever mention this to anybody for the rest of our lives," Xander started to babble as he straightened up. "Promise me, Cordy, please!"

"Why? And what if I don't?" Miss Chase instinctively put on her arrogant haughty mask.

"Your father is gonna kill me," Harris said nervously. "Or else throw me out of the house, which as far as I'm concerned, is even worse. Please, Cordelia, don't make Dawn suffer for my mistake!"

Uh-oh. That was probably the worst thing Xander could have said to plead his case, as Cordy instantly grew livid with realization and embarrassment. ( _Mistake? Is __**that**__ all it was to you, you __**asshole**__!?_ )

Luckily, she managed to calm down a bit before saying angrily, "Fine. It's erased, never happened. And I'll deny it till my dying day, even if _**you**_ ever mention it to anyone!"

Xander sighed in relief, misinterpreting Cordy's feelings of hurt betrayal as being pissed that he'd ever dared touch her in the first place. "Thank you. Thank you..."

Cordelia wasted no more time on words; she just quickly adjusted her clothes and hair, and then slammed the door shut on her way out.

Typical male, the one thing they can never seem to figure out at any age is what women truly want...

TBC...


	5. New Assignment

See Prologue for disclaimer and details. Howdy, and welcome to the latest chapter of the story! Thanks to everyone who's reviewed, as always. And wow, we certainly received a lot of PMs with regard to the events of the previous chapter - and most of it said that either Cordelia wouldn't have stopped trying to knock Xander's teeth out until she'd succeeded, or else Harris wouldn't have stopped the make-out session before their clothes started flying and their passion couldn't be contained within the walls of propriety, so to speak. :)

Fair enough with scenario #1, but as for #2, Xander and Cordy are both just fifteen, and we wanted to keep the characters acting as in-character as possible. And by this we mean that Cordy is the same age that Dawn was during the first half of season 6, so if that girl was too young to do the dance with no pants during that point of the show, ditto with Cordelia during 1996! Anyway, this chapter contains the events of the story before we finally arrive into season 1 of the show, so we hope you enjoy...

* * *

**Part Four: New Assignment**

**Sunnydale High, Sunnydale**

**Late May, 1996**

To those with the long view, this was a special time. It was the last occasion when a school year would finish on a nice, normal note for Sunnydale High. From this point on, the Hellmouth would start to become far more active and the vampires would soon cease biding their time, waiting for the Master to emerge from his pool of blood.

Xander himself was attending the Spring Fling dance tonight, as it was Prom time and he was pretty much expected to attend. Harris might have preferred otherwise, as this sort of shindig wasn't really his scene, but since Dawn had finally screamed at him to stop smothering her already – he'd had to get out of the house beaucoup fast.

Not that life at the Chase residence had been all roses since the day he and Cordelia had kissed in his bedroom. Xander had been desperately worried at first that the brunette would spill everything, but luckily those fears had been groundless. Cassandra's big sister had said nothing to anyone, for which Xander had given effusive thanks to the gods above.

But since he was a normal, hormonal teenage male, the dreams had started soon afterwards. Xander just couldn't help it. His subconscious seemed determined to constantly remind him of their little...tryst. Late at night he would remember Cordelia's arms circling around his neck, her lips, her tongue, her rack and her butt and her...well, her everything.

Psychologically it made a lot of sense, of course. Harris had had very little prior success with girls, which meant one that didn't automatically reject him was bound to become the object of obsession, at least to some extent. And, from living in the same house as him, this female specimen came equipped with inside knowledge of all his pet likes and dislikes.

That was how Cordelia knew how to get back at the so-called 'social reject' by bringing home various male 'friends' of hers, and parading them right in his face.

Putting away such thoughts, Xander scanned the crowd. He saw Cordelia, who had been crowned the freshman princess, near the stage of the gym chatting with her escort Jason Kent. So he quickly moved on to Willow...who was talking to Jonathan and Jesse.

Things in that area weren't looking so hot either, come to think of it. Levinson seemed to have taken his place with those two over the last couple of months. Even though Willow seemed to still love tutoring him in math, it just wasn't the same for Xander when his redheaded friend also constantly babbled about Jonathan this and Jesse that and oh, did you hear about what Jonathan and Jesse got up to?

He was definitely no longer the belle of the ball here.

And there was also the guilt factor over having made a move on Jesse's girl that way. Even though it had been only the one time, it hadn't exactly been premeditated and Cordelia would no doubt kill him if she ever heard herself being called that.

( _Not to be all with the self-pity party, but looks like I'm pretty much an outcast nowadays,_ ) Xander thought miserably. ( _Don't belong with any of the cool crowd like Cordelia's friends, and I can't seem to fit in with my own friends anymore either. I swear to God, if it wasn't for Dawnie I'd have run away from Sunnydale by now, hightailed it for LA or someplace like that..._ )

Xander soon walked out of the high school gym, unable to stand overhearing the other kids' conversations anymore. He didn't care about how Madonna was now four months pregnant, or about the latest hit from Oasis, or the fact that Pamela Anderson Lee and husband Tommy were embroiled in a legal battle with _Penthouse_ over some X-rated home movies.

All right, maybe that last one was a bit more interesting than the rest, but given his luck with the ladies – it was probably something more to be avoided than focused upon at this point.

No one noticed his departure, although Cordelia soon realized Harris had split the scene when she looked around to see how well her efforts to make him jealous were going. Ignorant of her sudden concern, Xander took a quick walk around campus, trying to relieve the stress a little but not succeeding very well.

Two figures watched the youth from within the shadows. One of them was the black man from 2003 that had been nicknamed 'Robe Boy' by Buffy Summers. The other...

The other was the one and only vampire with a soul in this world.

"Why are we here?" Angel asked, looking at his companion and wishing he'd been given a name instead of having to say 'hey, you' or whatever. "This town isn't exactly safe territory for me, you know."

"Look at him," the black man intoned, ignoring that and motioning at Xander. "Tell me what you see."

Angel looked at Xander briefly. "An idiot who should know better than to walk around alone at night, especially on the Hellmouth."

Robe Boy clucked his tongue impatiently. "Please look harder, vampire."

"Why?"

"Because I asked politely."

It had only been a few months since the messenger named Whistler had found the tormented vamp in Manhattan, and started cleaning him up and training him after pointing out Buffy the Vampire Slayer. But that didn't mean Angel failed to hear the annoyance and distaste in the other man's voice, and he eventually decided it would probably be best to simply humor Robe Boy. "Fine, but I'm assuming there's a reason for this."

The black man gestured and Angel suddenly couldn't move, not even to talk. "I find your attitude...disturbing. Perhaps I should just release your soul back to wherever it belongs in the afterlife? Because, believe me, I could do it with just a thought. And then you would be free game for that Slayer you recently met."

Angel shuddered after Robe Boy let him go. And knowing that losing his soul was the very _**last **_thing he wanted – or needed – Angel did as the robed being requested and examined the boy, carefully. He brought all of the knowledge of human nature that his two hundred and forty-odd years of vampiric existence, plus the too well remembered twenty-six years as a living human wastrel, had given him, and all of his insight, to bear on the problem.

"He's angry," Angel finally murmured, after analysing Xander's face and body language. "Not killing angry, though. Just pissed off at the world. There's some sort of frustration there as well – probably because of a girl. So what?"

"Does he remind you of anyone?"

"No," Angel shrugged.

"And yet somehow he very much reminds me of you, before you were turned...Liam." The dislike in Robe Boy's voice was clearly evident upon using Angel's old human name.

"That's not who I am anymore," Angel said defensively, even as he wondered whether the robed man was right about the comparison.

"If you say so. But that's Liam's body you've got there, vampire. And his soul now as well, thanks to those foolish gypsies – who couldn't even perform a magical ritual for revenge properly."

"What does that mean?" Angel demanded. ( _What's he saying? That the soul curse was flawed somehow?_ )

"Never mind for now. The point is, who are you? Better yet, who would you prefer to be: Liam trapped in a vampire's body, or Angelus with a tacked-on soul?"

Angel shook his head. "You're not making any sense."

The black man stared at Xander again, who was far off into the distance now. Robe Boy thought about that meeting during 2003 for a moment, cursing the fact that things hadn't worked out as expected then – and so it was his job now to keep the guardian of the Key alive. "Just as Darla turned you, she might also turn him. He needs protection far more than the Slayer does. And spare me your protests, vampire, I already know how you feel about the Chosen One. I should warn you, if that boy ever follows in your footsteps? He'd make Angelus look like an amateur."

Robe Boy paused for a moment. "In the future that would have been, I know which path he would have taken. But which one would you choose? Love or duty? Happiness or sacrifice?"

( _This guy's even worse with the cryptic than Whistler, _) Angel thought in annoyance. But the mage or whatever he was had also known things when he'd appeared out of nowhere earlier, things that Angel had never mentioned to anyone. His last words with his father and sister, for example.

Combined with the little Darth Vader act just now, it all meant that this unknown was a serious player who couldn't just be ignored.

"What do you want from me?" Angel finally demanded.

"I already told you. Protect him for as long as he stays upon the mouth of Hell. Your Slayer will be fine without you for a while, however much you'd prefer to help and protect her. This is your chance to do the right thing for once, without hope for reward...and if you fail or refuse, I fear that all hope will eventually be lost."

* * *

**Chase Manor, Sunnydale**

**Late September, 1996**

Summer had come and gone. Angel had reluctantly accepted his new assignment and kept an eye on Xander in between Whistler's lessons. Well, except for the month or so when the Chase family, including Xander and Dawn, had vacationed in La Paz. Since Angel understandably decided to pass on the opportunity to try out his sunbathing skills, he just kept to himself until the group arrived back in Sunnydale.

Right now, Xander was heading to the library of the mansion. Cordelia's father had sent the butler to inform the youth that he was needed for a discussion with the older man, and Harris didn't want to be late.

"You wanted to see me, Mr. Chase?" Xander asked as he came in and closed the door.

"Yes, come in, have a seat."

Xander did as requested. "What's this about, sir?"

David Chase looked a bit uncomfortable. "Well, uh, let's not beat around the bush; I think we both know what day this is. Alexander, I know you haven't mentioned her very often over the last year or so, at least not to me and Julia. But if you want to talk about it...what happened to your mother...I want you to know that my wife and I are here for you."

"Thank you sir, that's very decent of you both," Xander replied politely and calmly, even though on the inside his emotions were a wild maelstrom. The anniversary of his mom's death was something he'd tried not to think about until today, when Dawn had cried a river of tears while they had been alone together in his room. Xander's own eyes had gotten pretty wet too, but damned if he was going to admit that to anyone.

Mr. Chase stared at him. "Alexander, I'd like an honest answer. How much longer are you going to keep calling me 'sir' like that? It's not like we're strangers, you know."

"I understand that, Mr. Chase. But since I'm still a guest in your house, I don't want to be presumptuous or anything."

"For God's sake, boy, you're not a guest anymore! What do I have to do to prove that? Adopt you as my son and heir?" David demanded.

"I don't think Cordy would appreciate that, sir," Xander replied at once. ( _And for more reasons than one._ )

The other man pounced on Xander's reply. "Yes, and that's another thing. What is it with you two lately? Because don't think I haven't noticed you staring at one another like that, when you think no one's looking. Have you two had a fight or something?" Mr. Chase wanted to know.

Xander stiffened. He did _**not**_ want to talk about it, especially after what had happened in Mexico.

The thing was that Mr. and Mrs. Chase had decided to vacation in that part of Baja California this year not only because was it a great tourist attraction, it also had plenty of fun stuff for kids Cassandra and Dawn's age to keep themselves busy with. Including the aquarium, two marinas, museums, theatres, and even an art institute. But it was La Paz's beaches that the two girls had wanted to spend the most time at, so when the older kids had drawn babysitting duty they'd donned their swimming outfits and kept an eye on them.

As well as an eye on each other.

Cordelia's bust size had grown over those months, a fact that was emphasized a great deal by the tiny pink bikini she'd worn. That was why Xander had started thinking thoughts he shouldn't have, the moment he saw her in it. For her part, behind her indifferent public mask the Chase girl had also appreciated Harris's body, which had filled out nicely thanks to the home environment and better nutrition. The abs and chest were pretty drool-worthy, in her not-so-humble opinion.

Despite the past, where their one and only kiss had ended so disastrously, Xander and Cordelia could not deny they were still attracted to one another. And so the inevitable had happened one night. The two of them had started making out again, constantly sucking face after the mutual teen lust and antagonism became too much to withstand any longer.

But now that they were back in Sunnydale, Xander had decided they had to cool it for all the reasons he'd mentioned back in spring. He could tell Cordelia hadn't liked hearing that, but at least it meant the young man could be somewhat honest in this conversation with her father.

"We're not fighting, Mr. Chase," Xander replied to David's question. "It's just we're both a bit...unsettled, now that school's about to start again."

The man grunted, missing the subtle nuances. "Well, that's good. I mean, I don't want to hear that there's trouble brewing between you. Don't think I haven't heard Cassandra and Dawn complain how you stare at any boy coming near them like an angry Doberman. So the last thing we need around here is for Cordelia to add her voice to all that!"

Xander blushed. "I just feel Cassandra's like my little sister, Mr. Chase, almost as much as Dawn is. I'm sorry if that upsets you-"

"No, no! Believe me, I do appreciate it. In fact..." The millionaire looked thoughtful. "I've been meaning to tell you, I consulted with my lawyers recently. If anything ever happens to me and Julia, Klein & Gabler will see to it that all four of you kids are well taken care of."

"Thank you, Mr. Chase. For Dawn's sake, I'm very glad to hear that." Xander unleashed a rare smile, which warmed the heart of the other man.

"Well, son, it's the least I can do. After all, it's been a year; you're practically a member of the family nowadays. And that question of adoption I mentioned just now? It wasn't entirely a joke; I really was wondering whether you want my wife and I to set the wheels in motion. No pressure, though, you understand."

Xander hesitated. "If Dawn wants that...that's her decision, sir. But I don't think you'd be doing yourself any favors giving your name to the son of Anthony Harris."

Mr. Chase exhaled, briefly wondering if the boy was in fact correct. "You should know I went to visit your father in prison once. I thought he'd like to hear that his children were being properly looked after, and how well you and Dawn were doing despite everything that happened. However...well, I hate to tell you this, but he just started screaming abuse at me till the guards eventually dragged him away."

"To be honest? Doesn't surprise me much, sir," Xander shrugged. Then his face hardened. "And if Dad ever comes near Dawn again once he gets out, I'll just have to be ready for him."

Mr. Chase just nodded without saying anything, as Xander left the room. ( _He seems determined enough, even at this age. Hmm, I'll need someone trustworthy to run the company one day – and depending on the circumstances, that boy might just fit the bill..._ )

* * *

**The Bronze, Sunnydale**

**A few days later**

Cordelia Chase was not in a good mood. And even though she had no idea that the Master had finally risen from his pool of blood, she had good reason not to be happy.

Sophomore year was about to start, for one thing, which was annoying in that the teachers were a pain and her beach time was so over. Plus Cordy had not enjoyed listening to Harmony's whining about how she'd been stood up for a date the other night, and thus had made her displeasure known. Her mind was too full of Xander Harris to care about that blonde's romantic disasters.

Miss Chase had honestly thought that things would be different this time, once she and Xander had started things up again during the summer. In her mind they'd seriously connected. They'd also managed to keep it a secret from the rest of the family, even Dawn and Cassandra.

But obviously she'd been wrong, if the big dumbass had just ended it that way once they got back home. It annoyed the hell out of the brunette that her not-boyfriend held so much power over her this way. She was Cordelia Chase, damn it, and NO ONE was supposed to be able to do that to her!

Still, she just couldn't stop thinking about him. And Cordelia knew she was the best possible catch Xander was ever gonna find, so why did he have to make everything so damned complicated? As if her father would throw him out on his ass if she told everyone the truth! They should just openly start dating and be happy together.

Okay, there was Xander's 'loser' status to be concerned about. Even though he and Dawn weren't really Harris's anymore, the cheerleader knew that the company Xander kept – used to keep – was still a big drawback to him attaining popularity and being 'worthy' of her.

( _What am I gonna do?_ ) Cordelia thought to herself restlessly that evening, looking around in the dark and crowded club while her friends chatted away. ( _I need to talk to someone about Xander and me. But I promised him I wouldn't confide in Cassandra and Dawn, and as for my friends? Forget it! It's not as if any of them really know me. I don't know if they even like me half the time. _)

Suddenly, Cordelia had an epiphany. ( _Of course! The one person who knows Xander as well as I do, and who I can bully into keeping her mouth shut if I have to._ ) "Willow! I really like your outfit!" Cordy said nicely, as she came over to the appropriate table.

Willow looked at her fuzzy pink sweater for a second. "No you don't."

Cordelia dropped the act. "No, I really don't, but I need a favor."

"What kind?"

The rich girl looked around and saw Jesse heading towards them. "To talk, but not here. Let's go outside, the alley in the back where we can have some privacy. And don't follow me too closely, okay? I don't want people to get the wrong idea and think that we're friends or anything."

Miss Rosenberg rolled her eyes once Cordy turned away. "Okay, what's this all about?" Willow asked, once they met outside as requested.

Cordelia hesitated, briefly looking around. "Okay, like I said we're not friends. And if you tell anyone anything after I confide in you, I'll have to kill you – or at least make sure you get detention for a year, understand?"

The threat horrified the shy and insecure redhead, making Willow gulp audibly and her eyes grow wider. "Yeah. But-but, why would you wanna confide in me?"

"You're the one girl in Sunnydale who knows Xander as well as I do, aren't you?"

Willow instantly looked concerned. "Well, yeah. I guess. I mean okay, ever since last year we're not exactly as close as we once were, but...i-is something wrong with him? Or with Dawn?"

Cordelia huffed, "No, she's okay and Xander's fine too. I just wanted to ask-"

"Hey! What are you two doing out here?"

Both schoolgirls turned around, and Cordelia groaned. "Xander, this is a private conversation, that's why we came out here. Can't you take a hint?"

Harris came fully out into the alley, having seen the two femmes leave the building and wondering what was up with that. "Uh, I'm thinking not. So, what are you two gals talkin' about?"

"Well, I was gonna ask her advice on how to convince you to get over your insecurities, and finally take our romantic relationship out of the closet!" Cordy retorted, missing Willow's suddenly horrified expression.

"Are you nuts?!" Xander demanded. Then he saw Miss Rosenberg's face. "Uh, Will..."

"She, she's just kidding, right? I mean, Xander, you – you and Cordelia?" Willow squeaked.

"Willow..." Harris said.

"It's, it's not possible. I mean, you, and her, it's, it's simply not natural!" the redhead added.

"Hey!" Cordelia said, feeling insulted.

"Willow..." Xander tried again.

But by now, the girl had seemingly gone into full denial. "It'd be against all known laws of God and man! I mean, y-you guys hate each other. Remember? And Xander, you're, you're the treasurer and co-founder of the 'We Hate Cordelia' club!"

"You're the _**what**_?" Cordelia demanded, turning to glare at Harris.

Xander cringed before her, something Willow had never seen him do before. "Ah, Cordy, I can explain. Remember, sixth grade and we all went on that field trip, and the guy with the antlers on his belt showed up? I got...kinda bored..."

"So what are you saying? You and your stupid friends, you all used to gather around and say horrible things about me...just to make yourselves feel good? Just for laughs?!" Cordelia demanded.

"No! No!" Xander hesitated. "Well, i-it was never just for laughs, I mean..."

The look of murderous fury on Cordelia's face was almost enough to make Xander start running. "That's it. We're through, mister! I don't know what the hell I was thinking, wanting to get back together with you. So the next time you wanna kiss me, use a damn photo of me to do it!" the young woman ranted, before taking off the crucifix birthday present he'd given her, throwing it at Harris and storming back into the club.

Xander picked it up and muttered, "Well, that's just swell." Then he noticed his red-haired friend staring at him in horror. "Willow? What's wrong?" he asked cluelessly.

"_You_ _**goofhead**_!" Willow began to yell at him, as the dam finally burst and Xander recoiled. Nearly ten years' worth of emotions since kindergarten could now no longer be denied, not after what she'd just heard and witnessed. "_I've been in love with you since we were six! __**Six**_!"

Willow's declaration was totally unexpected to Xander, even though it shouldn't have been. "Huh? Wha...Willow, I, I..." Harris floundered badly, trying to respond.

"_I've always loved you! I even wanted to be Mrs. Xander Harris one day! But you chose that __**bitch**__ instead of me_?!"

Xander was momentarily stunned to hear the b-word from his sweet little innocent Willow's lips. ( _She's definitely changed if she's started using language like that. Must be Jonathan's influence!_ ) He looked at her nervously. "Look, Willow..."

"NO! Don't you _**ever **_speak to me again!" Willow stormed back into the Bronze, almost the exact same way Cordelia had done.

"Great. Just perfect," Xander muttered to himself, throwing his arms up in disgust. "Obviously, they now both think that I'm a moron and/or an asshole."

"Well, I don't."

Xander whirled around and saw a stunningly beautiful girl with short blonde hair. She was dressed in a Catholic schoolgirl outfit, even though she looked a bit old for something like that. "What?" he asked.

"I couldn't help overhearing. And I don't think you're moron," Miss Blonde and Beautiful replied.

"Uh..." Xander said nervously, almost having gone into the usual pretty-girl-speechless-dork mode. "H-hi. I'm, I'm Xander Harris. Who are you?"

The woman laughed. "Call me Darla."

"Right," Xander said, as the blonde came closer. "Uh, Darla, is there something I can help you with?"

"Well, I'm hungry. Think you can help me with that?"

Xander shrugged. "Yeah, sure. I got some money, we can get a mocha latte inside the Bronze?"

Darla smiled with a predator's grin. It instantly reminded Xander of his father, whenever the old man was about to do something particularly nasty. "Great. Oh, but remember what I said just now, about you not being a moron?" she asked.

"Yeah?"

"I lied."

Darla's face changed, morphing into something hideous and nightmarish. Xander got a glimpse of yellow eyes, a ridged and bumpy forehead, and fangs just before there was a sharp stinging sensation in his neck. Then there was pain like he'd never felt before, as he struggled to get free of her embrace.

"Let him go, Darla!"

The pain in his neck ended, but quickly resumed as the girl – or whatever she was – grabbed Xander into a chokehold. "And why should I do that, dear boy?" she purred.

"Can you hear me, Harris? Answer me!" the male voice demanded.

Xander blurrily tried to focus. "Yeah, I'm-"

The grip on his neck tightened and choked off the rest of the reply. "You know who dinner is, how nice. But it's not polite to ignore a civil question like that, Angelus," Darla said cuttingly.

"That's not my name anymore. And if you kill him you'll never know details about how the curse is flawed somehow," Xander heard 'Angelus' reply.

The young man then heard a noise from his captor that sounded like an intake of breath, yet not. "Really?"

"I have it on pretty good authority, anyway."

Despite the pain, Xander managed to finally get a glimpse of the other guy in the alley. He was tall, broad-shouldered, wore a leather jacket, and used way too much hair gel. Xander judged he might have been in his mid-twenties. ( _Who is this guy?_ )

"I see. And just who would that be...now, now!" Darla tightened her grip again at once as Xander began to squirm free. "Be a good boy and behave while your elders are talking."

"Don't suppose you've got a cross on you, by any chance?" 'Angelus' seemed pessimistic to Xander about the chances.

But God – or maybe the higher power that had seeded Dawn into the Harris family so long ago – seemed to be on the human's side for the moment. Xander's hand closed around Cordelia's birthday gift, and he managed to bring it directly onto Darla's face.

The blonde howled in pain and her grip weakened. Old instincts immediately surfaced in Xander's mind about how to run, when Anthony Harris got into one of his rages. Xander stamped down on her instep and sprinted towards the only source of possible help: this 'Angelus' character.

The dark-haired vampire instantly shielded Xander with his own body, shoving the kid behind him. "Back off," he told Darla bluntly. "I mean it. Go find someone else for tonight."

Darla's face turned human again, much to Xander's amazement. She sneered, "Still trying to protect mortal children, Angelus? You haven't changed since 1900."

"Lose the Catholic schoolgirl look, sweetheart. It doesn't suit you," was the man's short reply.

"We'll meet again soon, dear boy. I look forward to it." With that, Darla slipped away into the shadows.

"Who, who...what was that?" Xander panted out in shocked disbelief. "And who are you?"

"Name's Angel," the mysterious stranger said simply, as he turned around and checked out Xander's neck.

( _Uh, but didn't she call him Angelus just now? Whatever..._ ) "Angel? Um, no offense, but isn't that a bit of a girly name? Not to mention a character in that movie, 'The Wild Bunch'?"

Angel just stared at the kid for a moment. ( _I help save his life, and he starts with the insults? Terrific._ ) "You'll be okay. She didn't manage to feed for long."

"You know her? Who – what was she?" Xander demanded again after feeling his neck, which had finally stopped bleeding.

"Her name's Darla. And she's a vampire," Angel said simply.

Xander laughed through the pain. "What? There's no such thing, dude! Geez, are you high on PCP or something?"

Angel grabbed Xander's right wrist at the mention of 'angel dust'. He growled, "Listen to me very carefully. Vampires are real, and they live here in this town. Because Sunnydale is built on the mouth of Hell, that's why the original settlers called it 'la Boca del Infierno'. Vampires are dead corpses animated by a demon, so they have no breath and no heartbeat and no body heat. But they're a lot stronger and faster than humans, and they have an excellent sense of smell too, like a bloodhound. They're very dangerous, but not unbeatable. Sunlight, fire, decapitation, or a stake to the heart, just like in the movies, can kill them. They also don't like holy water, not to mention..."

He held up Xander's arm containing the crucifix and grabbed it with his other hand. A strong burning smell instantly assaulted the young man's nostrils, as Angel's features shifted into the same sort of game face that Darla had had. "...the Christian cross."

Harris backed away at once. "You're, you're like her...?" he babbled in fear.

"Not exactly. But make no mistake, this is the face of the enemy," Angel said, before putting his human mask back on. "You ever see a vampire if I'm not around, you run for your life. They can't get into your home without an invitation, so don't ever offer one out of hand. Hotel rooms don't count as a personal dwelling, though, so don't ever head for any place like that. Try to get to a church if one is close enough, there are forty-three of them in Sunnydale. Any questions?"

Xander shook his head weakly. "Am I dreaming? Is, is this a nightmare?"

"No. And the bite marks will still be there in the morning to prove it, I can assure you."

Xander felt his neck again, head still whirling. "If you're a vampire – and I can't believe I actually just said that – then, uh, then why are you helping me? Why didn't you just grab me to kill for yourself?"

Angel hesitated. "Good question, but I can't explain everything. I was told to protect you. Help you. Keep you alive."

"By who?"

"I never got a name." Angel then said roughly, "Go home, boy. Make sure to stay in public places if you're ever out after dark again. And don't try to pretend this was all just a dream in the morning. You'll live longer that way." With that, Angel strode off into the night.

Xander was still in too much shock to do anything to stop him. "Wait! How do I contact you again, if I ever need to find you?" he then called out.

"I'll find you."

TBC...


	6. Welcome To The Real World

See Prologue for disclaimer and details. Greetings and salutations, o loyal readers and reviewers! Welcome to the latest installment of the story. Been a hell of a day, to quote good ol' Ted; a trip to the dentist, getting yelled at on the phone, and then getting stuck in traffic for a freaking _**hour** _on the way home - all because some idiot wasn't watching where he was going, or his brakes sucked, or whatever. Talk about your perfect storm of bad luck...but enough of the complaints, that's not what you're all here for! Now, some people have been wanting to know when Buffy will show up; well, here she is. And we hope you enjoy our AU version of 'Welcome To The Hellmouth'...

* * *

**Part Five: Welcome To The Real World**

**Sunnydale High, Sunnydale**

**The next day**

It was a sunny day, the start of tenth grade, and Harmony Kendall for one was really looking forward to it after her disastrous date recently. ( _This year, I'm __**so**__ gonna have to get some cute senior to be my new boyfriend._ )

The ditzy blonde had met up with the rest of her clique, as Xander and Cordelia got out of their car. By this time, the once-unthinkable had become utterly commonplace: seeing those two arrive at school together was about as interesting as watching paint dry.

But then Harmony frowned. It appeared something different was in the air today, between her best friend and that retard. Cordelia was glaring furiously at Harris, but Xander didn't even appear to notice. He had the proverbial thousand-yard stare on his face, as well a bandage on his neck.

"Hey," the buxom blonde said to her friend, as Cordelia joined the pack. "Uh, I couldn't help noticing. What happened to Xander's neck?"

Miss Chase stared around briefly as she snorted, "Who cares? I mean, I heard Dawn mention something about how he accidentally stabbed himself with the barbecue fork last night-"

"What would that idiot want with a barbecue fork?" Aura interrupted in confusion.

"You think Xander's planning a career at the local butcher shop?" Joy giggled.

"No way! He's gonna end up a janitor at the local DMV!" Kate exclaimed.

"Yeah, right. Try the local Doublemeat Palace drive-through," Gwen scoffed.

Harmony noticed that Cordelia made no attempt to defend her housemate as their friends continued to denigrate the useless loser. ( _Hmm, that's odd. Something's changed between them, I wonder what? Oooh, I know! I bet Xander tried to give it to her in the ass last night, and afterwards Cordelia stabbed him for it with the barbecue fork! Yeah, I gotta remember that one. _)

Be that as it may a new girl, Buffy Summers, had arrived for her first day at a new school. And yet the blonde Slayer – who had been the Chosen One for just over a year – didn't even register on Xander's radar as she walked past him.

( _Vampires are real,_ ) the male teen thought to himself for maybe the millionth time, as he walked towards Sunnydale High. ( _I just...have I gone completely insane? Or have I just entered the freaking Twilight Zone? _)

His distress and confusion were only natural. Entering the real world, which contained demons and vampires, was something that few humans could handle easily. And honestly, it was no wonder that most people repressed such knowledge to maintain their own sanity.

But Xander Harris wasn't most people. He had never been destined to be one of the sheep who lived in denial. And so as he walked past Jonathan, Jesse and Willow, Xander only muttered an absent "Hi" to them as he headed for his locker, his mind still trying to process everything.

Jonathan noticed Willow tense up at once. "Uh, Willow? Is something wrong?"

"Nuh-uh," the redhead replied at once. She hadn't told him or Jesse anything about what she'd learned outside the nightclub during the previous evening. Not just because of Cordelia's threats, but also because she just simply didn't _**want**_ to say anything. With all her might, Willow was still trying to pretend last night had never happened, and that her life-long crush hadn't cruelly betrayed her that way.

"Hey, look!" Jesse exclaimed, discreetly pointing at Buffy. "New girl!"

Willow glanced around. "Oh, yeah, I heard someone was transferring."

"She's major leagues hot!" Jonathan nodded, his confidence having increased slightly from last year due to his strong friendship with these two.

"Gee. Is that all guys think about with regard to girls?" Willow rolled her eyes.

The J-men briefly glanced at one another. "Nah," they said in unison.

"We also want to know about their personality," Jesse told Willow.

"And their innermost feelings, and what their outlook on life is," Jonathan added.

"But then we forget about all that crap, and wonder if they're the flowers and candy type."

"If they're willing to consider making out on the first date."

"If they're willing to go beyond third base by the fourth date-"

"OKAY!" Willow shrieked, garnering the attention of some nearby students. "Okay. Y'know, too much detail."

Jonathan and Jesse laughed, the members of the 'dork squad' quickly apologizing for their little joke. "Sorry, Will. But at times, hey – it's kinda like you're just one of the guys, ya know?" McNally grinned at her.

( _Great, I'm just one of the guys now. Hello, girl with girl parts here? Hey, I wonder if Xander also thought that way? Yeah, I bet he did, so it's no wonder he set his sights on Cordelia instead of me,_ ) Willow grumbled to herself.

* * *

**Sunnydale High quad, Sunnydale**

**Lunchtime**

Buffy Summers was thinking that she was having quite the interesting first day.

After her meeting with Principal Flutie she had failed to bump into Xander, who'd been elsewhere in the library at that point, looking up stuff on vampires. Still, she had met Cordelia and Willow earlier today, not to mention Creepy Librarian Guy.

( _What was his name again, Gyles? Giles? Whatever._ ) "Uh, hi! Willow, right?" the Slayer asked as she came to a stop.

The redhead looked up. "Why? I-I mean, hi! Uh, did you want me to move?"

( _Gee, nervous much?_ ) the Chosen One thought. "Why don't we start with, 'Hi, I'm Buffy' and, uh, then let's segue directly into me asking you for a favor. It doesn't involve moving, but it does involve hanging out with me for a while." Buffy sat down, but made sure to give her companion her space.

Willow looked confused, and rightly so after what Cordy had said this morning in the school corridor. "But aren't you hanging out with Cordelia?"

The Slayer just looked at her. "I can't do both?"

"Not legally. Well, I'm pretty sure anyway."

Buffy sighed, figuring she definitely had her work cut out for her. "Look, I really wanna get by here, new school and all, and...Cordelia's been really nice...to me...anyway, but, um, I kinda have this burning desire not to flunk all my classes, and I heard this rumor that you were the person to talk to if I wanted to get caught up."

Willow loosened up immediately, as she always did at the thought of academic achievement. "Oh, I could totally help you out! Uh, if you have sixth period free we could meet in the library?"

The Chosen One couldn't think of a worse place to visit, given how she'd planned to retire from the Slayage gig and Giles had plopped a book on vampires in front of her at the first opportunity. "Or not. Maybe we could meet someplace quieter. Louder. Uh, that place just kinda gives me the wiggins."

The redhead nodded. "Oh, it has that effect on most kids. I love it, though. It's got a great collection of stuff, and the new librarian is really cool."

Buffy frowned. "He's new?"

"Yeah, he just started. He was a curator at some British museum, or, or the British Museum, I'm not sure. But he knows everything, and he brought all these historical volumes and biographies, and am I the single dullest person alive?"

( _Oh yeah, this girl has serious self-confidence issues!_ ) "Not at all," Buffy said reassuringly, trying not to smile.

Just then, Cordelia showed up. "Hey. Is this dweeb bothering you?" she asked the Slayer, barely glancing at Willow.

"Uh, no. We're good here," Buffy said, trying to be diplomatic.

The Chase girl looked like she didn't believe it. "Right, well, I don't mean to interrupt your downward mobility, but I just wanted to tell you that you won't be meeting Coach Foster – the woman with the chest hair – because gym was canceled due to-"

"Mind if I interrupt you ladies for a second?"

All three girls turned around at the sound of the male voice, and Buffy for one instantly liked what she saw. ( _Hmm, not bad..._ ) She fully checked out the new arrival, something she would have never done under other circumstances. "Hey. I'm Buffy Summers."

"Xander Harris. Niiiice to meet you," the boy replied with a minor case of lust at first sight, before glancing at Cordelia and then Willow. The cybernerd would have introduced him to Buffy, but at the last moment had remembered how pissed she was at this guy right now.

"What do you want, loser?" Cordelia's voice was full of venom, still not having gotten over the whole 'We Hate Cordelia' thing from the previous evening.

Buffy instantly turned to stare at the brunette. ( _Uh-oh. Definitely an ex of hers, no doubt about it. Betcha I'm gonna have to be real careful around him, whenever Cordelia's around!_ )

Xander took something out of his pocket and stepped forward. He gently placed it in Cordelia's hand, even though she tensed up the moment he touched her. Then Harris stepped back and said, "This, uh, it belongs to you. I just wanted to make sure you got it back safe and sound."

Cordelia scowled as she stared down at Xander's crucifix birthday present, tempted to throw it away again. "If I still wanted this piece of junk, don't you think I would have kept it after what happened last night?"

"What happened last night?" Buffy asked in confusion.

"Doesn't matter," Miss Chase growled, trying to banish those unhappy memories just like Willow was doing. "Look, Xander..."

Harris pulled Cordelia aside a bit, yet Willow could still just barely overhear them. "Please, Cordy. I'm sorry, okay? That whole thing with the 'We Hate Cordelia' club, it was just stupid kid stuff and I really regret it now. But for crying out loud, we were only eleven at the time!" Xander pleaded desperately.

Willow released an unladylike snort, and then instantly looked terrified as Cordelia glanced at her. "Does the ultimate guy repellent have any particular reason for snorting that way?" the brunette hissed.

"No! No," Willow said hastily.

"Good," Cordelia stated. "Glad to hear it."

"Me too. Uh, could you two possibly give me a moment alone with Willow?" Xander suddenly asked.

The female computer expert instantly looked unhappy with that scenario. "Like I said last night, mister, we have nothing further to say to one another!"

Cordelia was confused. "What? Why are you...I mean, I know why_** I'm**_ pissed at the big dummy, but why are you acting like..." The young woman then looked like she'd just had an epiphany. "Oh my God! Willow, you finally decided to tell Xander about that ridiculous crush you've always had on him?"

"Hey!" Willow automatically objected, before remembering who she was talking to and cringing in fear. Unnoticed, Xander simply shook his head in dismay at the female antics.

Buffy was getting completely lost here. ( _How the heck did I just wander into a scene from Beverly Hills 90210, in the middle of my first day in Pleasantville?_ ) "Uh, y'know what? I think I better get going."

As she started to leave, Cordelia remembered the original reason she'd sought out Buffy in the first place and rushed to inform the Slayer gym class had been cancelled due to the discovery of Darla's drained victim in the locker room. "Wait up! I need to tell you..."

Xander paid the receding voices no attention. "Willow, I'm begging you here. Just let me say my piece, and then afterwards if you still never want to talk to me again I'll respect that. But for old time's sake, plus the fact that you were the first friend I ever had. Please?"

Willow Rosenberg hated the fact that she couldn't hate Xander the way he deserved. "Okay. For all the times you defended me in public, not to mention the yellow crayon incident on the first day of kindergarten. Speak now and then forever hold your peace."

Xander was momentarily confused. "Uh, isn't it supposed to be 'or forever hold your'..." He trailed off, looking at Willow's upset face. "No, guess it doesn't at that. Look Willow, first of all, let me just say that I never knew. I mean, I never had the slightest idea that you felt that way-"

"Yeah, right. But Cordelia obviously knew, and she never mentioned anything?" Willow snapped bitterly.

Xander sighed. "Okay, look, for the record? She's not my girlfriend. It's just – during the summer Cordelia and I, well...we sort of, ah, had something romantic together-"

"WHAT?!"

Xander whirled around to see a red-faced and furious Jesse standing behind him, along with a stunned-looking Jonathan. ( _Oh, __**crap**__!_ ) went briefly through Xander's mind, just before Jesse's fist knocked all thought clean out of him and the first schoolyard fight of the year started.

* * *

**Principal's Office, Sunnydale High**

**A short while later**

Bob Flutie sighed as he looked at the two dishevelled male specimens standing before him. "All right, what do you two have to say for yourselves? I mean, it's the first day of school, and already this sort of thing has started?"

Xander and Jesse remained silent, which was probably wise of them. One of the teachers had been nearby, when the fistfight had begun and the crowd had quickly gathered around the duo in question. That member of faculty had already told Flutie what had happened, but the principal also wanted to hear it direct from these two characters.

Bob looked at Xander. "I'm actually kind of surprised to see you in here, Harris." He glanced at Jesse, "You as well, to be honest, McNally. You've both never struck me as the troublemaker type. So come on, boys, let's try and work this out shall we? Tell me what happened."

"It was my fault, sir. I started it," Jesse blurted out, deciding to confess.

"It wasn't all his fault, sir, I mean, Jesse had a right to be upset after thinking I'd stolen his girl," Xander immediately added.

( _Ah, right. I should have known there'd be a girl involved in this, somehow. _) Bob adjusted his glasses, trying to decide what would be suitable punishment for a first offense. "All right, what the heck. Both of you have a week's detention for this little episode, starting today. And if it ever happens again, there'll be no further leniency; it'll be suspension for the both of you. Understood?"

The two chastened youths simply nodded, and then vacated the office when Flutie gestured for them to leave. Jesse strode away as soon as he could, before Xander called out, "Hey, wait up! Just gimme a chance to explain-"

McNally growled at once, "Are you _**trying**_ to get both of us suspended? Look, Xander, what you did in there for me just now – it changes nothing. Our friendship is over, so take a hike!"

The words were like an arrow straight to the heart, and Xander sagged at the realization in guilt and shame. "One chance to talk, that's all I'm asking. Please?"

Jesse was cursing himself for all kinds of a fool when he reluctantly nodded, and the pair stepped into an empty classroom. "You got thirty seconds, so make it snappy."

"I'm sorry. Okay? I mean, I didn't plan for it to happen or anything, it just sorta...it was only a summer fling, and I ended it as soon as we came back from La Paz," Xander tried to explain.

"You did what!?" Jesse demanded, forgetting about the self-imposed time limit. "You kissed Cordelia, and then treated her like she was just some sort of cheap-"

"SHE kissed ME, actually. And I...I'm sorry, Jesse, but I-I-I simply couldn't resist her anymore. I knew it was wrong, especially with me and Dawn living in the Chase mansion like that, but still – I just couldn't help myself!"

Jesse strove to calm himself down. ( _Cordy made the first move instead of you? Yeah, right!_ ) "I thought you were my friend, y'know. But instead, you're like the Sunnydale version of the Unabomber! I mean, how deluded was I?"

"No, it's not like that – I _**am**_ your friend! Jesse, you and Wills are the only real friends I've got!" Xander pleaded desperately.

Jesse snorted. "Look, Xander, you can say that all you want. But the truth is, we're not friends anymore. Jonathan's my best friend nowadays, not you. You, you're just a lousy girlfriend stealer!"

Xander's pride wouldn't let him accept that particular insult, though, however guilty he was feeling. "Except Cordelia's not your girlfriend, Jesse. Never has been either. Look, I may be complete scum but I'm not a liar. Cordy's always felt the way she has about you, long before I ever entered the picture. And deep down, you gotta know that by now," Harris said passionately.

"Plus, if it hadn't been me over the summer, it just would've been someone else – like maybe Pedro the cabana boy. I mean, don't you remember all the jocks Cordelia dated last year? I'm sorry, but the truth is as far as Cordy's concerned – you and her were never meant to be," Xander said sadly.

Jesse did not want to acknowledge that from this asshole of all people. And yet, there was the nasty suspicion after all those rejections...that Xander might just be right. "All right, let's hear it. Start from the beginning, what happened exactly between you two?"

Xander hesitated, but then began to spill everything. Including that first kiss back in March. Jesse initially couldn't believe his ears but as he thought about it, it all started to make a horrible kind of sense. The angry looks he had seen Cordelia send Xander back then, the ones mixed with something else that he now suspected had been longing or desire, suddenly appeared very different to the McNally boy.

"Jesse, yo. Are you okay?" Xander had to ask as he saw his ex-friend's face fall.

"No. I'd say I'm about as far from okay as I could ever possibly be," Jesse muttered as he collapsed into a chair. The phrase 'guys like me just aren't what Cordy's looking for' having surfaced in his mind from an old conversation.

"You mean, you actually believe me? 'Cause I thought for sure you'd just automatically assume-"

"Hey! I'm not a moron, damn it!" Jesse hissed, as he got up again. "Look, Xander, I'm very upset with you right now, understand? But I also figure that if Cordelia has her sights set on you and you ended it that way, then it's your mess to clean up, and maybe I should just wait until she's gotten you out of her system." Then Jesse got a contemplative look on his face. "Besides, there are other fish in the sea. There's a new girl in town, ya know, I heard her name's Buffy or something..."

"Buffy Summers. I met her today," Xander said promptly.

With an unfriendly look, Jesse quickly left the room.

"Great," Xander sighed to himself, figuring that he should hurry up and get to his next class as he exited the empty room as well.

* * *

**The Bronze, Sunnydale**

**The next night**

Young Mr. Harris was pretty sure that he was going to die.

The previous day, after he'd left the school once detention was over, Xander had gone home to explain what had happened to David and Julia. Well, sort of. The teen had also considered telling them the truth about vampires, but less than a moment later decided to keep his mouth shut. Even though Xander got along okay with the Chase elders these days, there was no point taking chances about getting separated from Dawn if they started thinking he was crazy.

Thus, Xander had missed out on a lot of important stuff that had happened last night, including Buffy and Angel's first meeting, Willow and Buffy's little heart to heart, and Jesse and Cordelia's ugly conversation within the nightclub. He'd also missed Willow and Jesse being taken by vampires, the redhead and Jonathan discovering the real world all around them, and McNally ending up as one of the undead.

Harris had looked for his ex-friend today, but to no avail. Still, when Cordelia had emphatically stated that nothing was going to keep her from the Bronze on a Friday night, Xander had figured he'd better follow her there to make sure she remained safe. He was especially motivated after Miss Chase had come home last night, ranting how Buffy Summers was a psycho loony who'd tried to stab her with a pointy stick.

What Xander hadn't expected was for vampires to invade the Bronze _**tonight**_, since he had no idea this was the night of the Harvest. The ritual to free the Master. It started when Vamp Jesse grabbed Cordelia for a dance, even though she instantly started calling him a caveman brain and tried to get loose.

Then Luke got on stage, and the killing began. As everyone started to scream and run Xander shoved his cross into Vamp Jesse's face and said, "Cordelia! Go, damn it, get outta here!"

But the fledgling, even though he was vamped out and growling in pain from the holy icon's presence, refused to let go of his prize so easily. "Well, if it isn't Cordy's black knight to the rescue. You still don't get it though, do you? Cordelia's mine. And tonight you die!"

The undead villain had the teenage girl in his grasp as Xander spotted more vampire game faces not far behind them. So Harris switched tactics, "Jesse, man, I'm sorry. Who did this to you?"

"Xndr!" Cordelia gurgled in annoyance, Vamp Jesse's forearm still tight across her throat.

"How come you're interested?" The teenage vampire looked genuinely curious. "Oh, what the hell. Her name's Darla, actually."

A black hatred was instantly born in Xander's heart for that blonde-haired she-demon. ( _Okay. One day, she and I are gonna settle accounts for this!_ ) "Jesse-"

Cordelia suddenly got tired of being the damsel in distress and tried to get away from her assailant by herself. "Leggo, y'asshole!" she choked out.

"Hold still, you bitch! You're not doing yourself any favors struggling!" Vamp Jesse snarled, his game face only inches from her neck.

Xander instantly brought out a stake and raised it up high. "Jesse, don't make me do it!"

The soulless teen paused as Buffy arrived at the club to challenge the Vessel, which was Luke's new designation from the Master as part of the Harvest. And interesting historical sidebar, but the Chosen One had no idea how lucky she was to be alive right now; given that it had been Jonathan instead of Xander who had accompanied her on that rescue mission down into the sewers. But in any case, Giles, Willow and Jonathan started trying to get everyone out of the Bronze at Buffy's signal.

Eyes narrowing after seeing this, Vamp Jesse unexpectedly tossed Cordelia aside and, with supernatural speed, shoved Xander up against the wall. "Buddy!"

He punctuated that remark with sharp blows to the chest and stomach, knocking the wind out of the mortal. "What were you thinking? That maybe you'd 'save' me somehow? Ha! Look at me, Xander, I'm a new man! Exactly the type that Cordelia's been looking for. And y'know what? After tonight, I might just spread my wings a little. Like Cassandra, for example. Or maybe even Dawn-"

There was no conscious decision to do it; but nonetheless, with a superhuman effort and despite the claws around his throat, Xander brought up the stake and tried to send it into Vamp Jesse's heart. The undead thing laughed out loud. He stopped laughing, though, when a fleeing patron impaled him directly onto Xander's stake by bumping into him at precisely the wrong moment.

Vamp Jesse hissed as Xander let go of the weapon. Then the demon exploded into dust before he could even get another sound out.

( _Oh my God. I just staked him?_ ) Xander almost couldn't believe it, or the fact that his first kill had left the taste of ashes in his mouth. Then he mentally shook himself as the remains settled on the floor; he had to grab Cordelia and get her out of here.

Luckily, the Scooby Gang was on the ball and Luke ended up dust as well. The Master remained mystically imprisoned in that underground church, after the ritual to free him failed. For her part, Darla fled the scene after getting hit by Willow's holy water directly in the face.

As Xander and Cordelia exited the Bronze en masse with the other patrons, Angel watched from within the shadows. "She actually did it!" he muttered to himself, now suspecting that Buffy was capable of a lot more than he'd given her credit for.

Standing alongside him, Robe Boy did not share that suspicion at all.

* * *

**Sunnydale High, Sunnydale**

**Three days later**

Buffy was walking along on the grass, and thanks to that good old Slayer hearing she overheard Cordelia say, "Well, I heard it was rival gangs. You know, fighting for turf. But all I can tell you is they were way ugly-looking. And Buffy, like, knew them! Which is just too weird. I mean I don't even remember that much, but I'm telling you – it was a total freak show! Especially that king of the freaks, Jesse."

( _Great, she doesn't remember the vampires, but she remembered I was there?_ ) the Chosen One thought to herself sourly. ( _My social life is dead in the water._ )

"I heard because he didn't show for detention, Flutie's suspended him," one of the Cordettes said about Jesse.

"Well, color me surprised," Cordelia said archly. "Anyway, the way he and Xander started fighting again that night? It was just too much..."

Buffy shook her head and soon met up with her Watcher and the two new Slayerettes. Jonathan, Willow and Buffy then made some puerile comments, as the four of them walked and talked. Giles muttered, "The Earth is doomed!" after they parted ways, wondering if it was too late to request a transfer back to England.

The Council operative soon went back to his library, only to find Xander examining his private book collection. "Young man, w-what on earth do you think you're doing?" Rupert demanded, as he suddenly spied which tomes Harris was looking at.

Xander held up the volumes at the table. "Okay, 'Blood Rites And Sacrifices'? Not to mention, 'Malleus Maleficarum'? Wanna tell me exactly which school subjects these are for?"

( _Oh, bugger!_ ) Giles thought to himself hurriedly. "Th-they're not for the students. They're part of my private collection, nothing to do with you lot. Now kindly explain yourself before I report you to the principal-"

"I saw you at the Bronze last Friday night," Xander cut him off.

That stopped Giles cold. "I, I don't know what you're talking about."

"You helped us all get out of there, along with Buffy, Will and Jonathan. And after everything went crazy and you people showed up, I heard a lot of the bad guys calling out 'Slayer!' So, ya wanna tell me what's up with that?"

( _He doesn't know about Buffy or the vampires? Well, so much the better._ ) "That's none of your business," Giles replied. "And as for whatever happened that night, you'd be well advised to just forget it and get on with your life-"

"Who the _**hell**_ do you think you are, telling me to just forget what I know?" Harris interrupted angrily, fed up with having his world turned completely upside down. "Because maybe that's how you do things over there in the land of the bangers and mash, mister, but this is Sunnydale. And no one with a big British flag up his butt is gonna treat me like an idiot! I saw what happened at the Bronze on Friday night, I saw that bouncer get killed right in front of me. And I'll never forget that. NEVER!" Xander hissed.

Giles didn't like the look in this boy's eyes, even if he knew it was somewhat understandable. But what he didn't know was that Xander wasn't motivated out of concern for his own life. His fear was that one day he'd have to stake Cordelia, Cassandra, or God help him – maybe even Dawn, if what had happened to Jesse happened to them as well.

The rest of the conversation was fairly strained, before Xander finally left the library. He suspected Giles now thought he was some teenage fruitcake, or whatever they called it over there in the country of Tweed Men. But it didn't matter. If people underestimated you – like when he and Vamp Jesse had recently thrown down – so much the better.

* * *

**The alley outside the Bronze, Sunnydale**

**Quite a while later**

Xander waited alone, suspecting someone would soon be joining him from inside the Bronze. He wasn't wrong either, as a male form soon materialized out of the shadows.

"You wanted to talk to me, Harris?" Angel asked calmly.

"How'd you know that?" Xander took a step back.

"You're afraid of me? That's smart of you. You shouldn't get comfortable around a vampire," the ensouled creature commented, not answering the question.

"I did some research today," Xander said carefully. "That vampire called Darla. She's got quite the history, I gotta say."

"And?" Angel didn't like where he thought this conversation was going. And sure enough, the question he'd dreaded soon came.

"Well, I remember what name she called you that night. Angelus, I mean. And if you're him...well, you're sure not acting like the Scourge of Europe I read about," Xander declared.

Angel pseudo-sighed. "Believe me, Harris, if I was still the same soulless bastard I was nearly one hundred years ago? We wouldn't be having this conversation. I'd have eviscerated you and over half the town by now instead. Because for a hundred and fifty years I offered ugly death to nearly everyone I met, and believe you me, I did it with a song in my heart."

"So what changed?" the human asked, stubborn and persistent to get to the bottom of the matter.

Angel shrugged. "I fed on a girl about your age. Beautiful. Dumb as a post. But still, a favorite among her clan."

"Her clan?"

The vampire explained, "Romany. Gypsies. They roamed all over Europe then, and still do so today. Their elders conjured the perfect punishment for me. They restored my soul."

"Huh?" Xander was now clearly lost.

"Yeah, we didn't cover this the other night. Still, when you become a vampire, the demon takes your body. But it doesn't get your soul. That's gone. No conscience, no remorse...all things considered, Harris, it's a hell of a way to live. But then someone comes along and curses you with said conscience. You have no idea what it's like to have done the things I've done...and to care." Angel seemed even more haunted than usual, and suddenly wondered why he was unburdening himself on this ignorant child of all people.

( _So that's why Jesse was acting like that in the Bronze last Friday. Guess that makes sense,_ ) Xander cogitated, even as the guilt threatened to consume him all over again. "But Darla isn't like that, is she?"

"No. Why?" Angel wanted to know.

"She killed a friend of mine, so I'm planning to kill her for that," Xander said simply.

The vampire shook his head. "Don't be stupid, Harris. Lose the van Helsing fantasy, because this is real life," he demanded brusquely. "You go up against Darla, odds are she'll kill you before I can save you."

"I'm not saying it's gonna be easy-"

"Besides, she's the vampire that made me," Angel went on relentlessly. "Darla knows all my moves, both literally and figuratively. It's too risky, so go home and just try to keep the ones you love safe. That's more than what I was ever able to do." Before Xander could respond Angel, vanished into the darkness.

Xander stared after him, but refused to give up on staking the blonde vampiress with all his heart. Even at this age, he was funny about revenge that way.

TBC...


	7. Preying Of A Different Sort

See Prologue for disclaimer and details. Welcome to the latest chapter of the story, folks, and thanks as always to everyone who has been reviewing the fic! 'Tis most appreciated. And please, keep those reviews coming! Doesn't matter if you love it or hate it, we hunger for feedback most desperately. Okay, now, we should mention that we're going to be focusing on the major events of season one in this fic, so not every episode of the season will be covered. And not everything will be the same as what it was on the show either; so let's get to it...

* * *

**Part Six: Preying Of A Different Sort**

**The Bronze, Sunnydale**

**November, 1996**

The world continued to turn as the general weirdness increased a few notches, and abnormality started to become the normality in the town built upon the Hellmouth.

Xander himself had noticed the strange stuff, and he was pretty sure so had Willow, Buffy and Jonathan. But Willow still wasn't speaking to him, he and Jonathan weren't exactly close, and Buffy, well...Harris suspected she wasn't exactly normal herself.

It had all started with the cheerleader tryouts, where the girl named Amber Benson had caught on fire. Buffy had been the one to quickly put out the flames and save Amber's life, while everyone else just gawked in disbelief. And there had been nothing in the paper afterwards about spontaneous freaking combustion?

Then had come an episode with Cordy. She had finally seemed to forgive him for the whole 'We Hate Cordelia' club business after that fight with Vamp Jesse, at least partially. But Xander's suspicions had been aroused when almost a whole day had passed, and the brunette hadn't spoken to him even once. Then the girl had suddenly gone blind, almost killing herself during her Driver's Ed course before Buffy had saved her from that speeding truck.

Way too bizarre.

In Xander's opinion, the weirdness had only increased when the girl named Lishanne had somehow lost her mouth in Dr. Gregory's Biology class, and the next day Buffy had acted drunk during cheerleader training and tried to hit on him before Willow and Jonathan dragged her away. ( _That girl had major grip, though, I swear._ )

Then things had abruptly gone back to normal, as Willow and a thin version of Amy Madison started hanging out together and Cordelia's blindness miraculously disappeared. Mr. and Mrs. Chase, along with Dawn and Cassandra, had accepted the medical opinion of 'hysterical blindness' or whatever the quacks had come up with to explain it. But the only thing Xander could figure was that some kind of mojo had taken place, that magic was real along with the vampires and the other unbelievable-but-true stuff out there.

A late-night conversation with Angel had later confirmed it, that some kind of witch must have wreaked havoc for a while. But just as Deadboy had pointed out, someone must have also taken care of the situation. And in Xander's mind, there was only one group of people who could have done it.

That was why Xander was keeping one eye on Cordelia in the club tonight, and the other scanning for the teenage trio in question. He also vaguely heard some guy next to him at the bar saying, "Seven, including Cheryl. I'll tell you, though, her sister was lookin' to make it eight!"

( _Is that Blayne Mall?_ ) Xander turned around. And sure enough, it was. ( _Great. Loudmouthed idiot, I oughta go find some place else to keep a lookout._ )

"Oooh, Cheryl's sister? The one in college?" Blayne's friend asked.

"Home for the holidays, and lookin' for love! She's not my type, though. Girl's really gotta have something to go with me." Blayne then looked around as Harris shifted slightly, gaining the other boy's attention. "Hey, Xander. How many times you score?"

"What?" Harris wasn't really paying attention, his mind on other things.

"Come on, man, spill. Like I'm sure you and Cordelia have had plenty of opportunities over the last year or so, haven't you? 'Cause I heard some guys in the locker room say she's pretty fast, am I right or what?" Mall smirked.

His smirk vanished as Xander quickly got directly in his face. "Cordy may not be my sister, and I'm not a Chase, but you talk about her that way again? One of us is gonna end up in the hospital. Or maybe even disappear permanently. Do you understand me, numb nuts?"

The dark expression and furious hiss was enough to make both boys back away from Harris at once. "Right," "Whatever," they said, before quickly heading off towards another part of the club.

"You ought to watch that temper of yours."

Xander jumped at that voice practically right in his ear, the anger instantly disappearing. "Ngggyah!" he tried to stifle the unmanly yelp. "Geez, Deadboy, don't _**do**_ that!"

Angel looked irritated at the nickname, not to mention the lack of fear nowadays. "Would you please stop calling me that? It's getting annoying."

"Sure, just as soon as you give up the phantom act, pal. Anyway, what's up?"

Angel looked around. "You seen Buffy Summers anywhere? I need to talk to her."

"Really?" Xander looked surprised. "Why?"

"Vampire with a forked hand. She needs to keep her guard up, he's very dangerous and he won't show her any mercy in a fight," Angel said absently, looking around.

"And that's got what to do with an ex-cheerleader babe, exactly?" Xander still didn't get it.

Again there was annoyance at Xander's description of the girl Angel loved. But a moment later, the former Angelus turned to look at Harris in surprise. "Well, she's the Slayer of course." His answer was met with a blank stare. "You _**do**_ know what the Vampire Slayer is, don't you?"

"Sorry, the what?" Xander was still lost here, despite what he'd heard during the Harvest.

Angel shook his head minutely. ( _The things I end up doing._ ) "The Slayer, Harris. In every generation there's one girl in all the world, a Chosen One..." He briefly explained who and what Buffy was, as he started scanning for the girl once more.

( _Whoa,_ ) Xander looked slightly stunned. ( _Buffy's not only one foxy chick, she's also a mystical demon ass-kicker?_ ) Then a thought occurred to him. "Question. If that's all true, then why the hell do you wanna go anywhere near her? Isn't it, like, Buffy's job to try and kill you?"

"Yeah," Angel grunted. "But she doesn't know what I am yet. And I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell her. I'm supposed to look out for her as well as you, and I can't very well do that if her Watcher orders her to slay me on sight."

Xander shook his head. "Just my opinion, but I'd say sure as heck that ain't gonna end well. 'Cause girls hate it when you keep secrets from 'em. And that one really ranks up there, curse and all! She might even get pissed enough to go into slay-now-ask-questions-later mode, ya know what I'm sayin'? You should just find some way to tell her safely already, like you did with me."

The vampire shrugged. He'd considered that scenario, but the one-time Scourge had figured that calling himself 'Angel' and then revealing himself to be a vampire would be enough for Giles to identify him as Angelus using the Watcher diaries. And then, like the mortal had rather bluntly put it, it would indeed be slay-now-ask-questions-later time.

Just then Buffy, Willow and Jonathan showed up and the Slayer noticed Angel and Xander talking. "I don't believe it," Buffy said at once. "Those two know each other?"

The two sidekicks turned to stare as well, as Buffy started to walk off. "Who's that talking to Xander?" Jonathan asked.

A light bulb went on above Willow's head, even as she buried the hurt at seeing her beloved again. She had yet to resolve her issues with Xander, even after all this time. "That must be Angel. I think?"

"The guy who warned her about the vampires during that Harvest thing?" Levinson remembered the name.

Willow nodded. "That's him, I'll bet you."

At that moment Buffy reached the two guys. "Well, look who's here!"

Xander just smiled at his classmate. "Hi, Buffy."

Angel did that thing with his brow that often made women go weak at the knees. "Hey."

The schoolgirl felt a flutter in her chest, before squelching it. "So, you two know each other?"

"Yeah," Soul Boy said shortly.

"And he's such a delight to hang with!" Xander threw his arm around the vampire's shoulders, much to Angel's dismay. "Angel here's just a barrel of laughs everywhere he goes," Xander could not help adding sarcastically.

The former Irishman wanted to growl at the young idiot, even as he kept his gaze on the Slayer. "Just wanted to tell you something..." He glanced at Xander, who got the hint and went on his way.

Then he bumped into Cordelia. "What do you think you're doing, hanging out with that _**freak**_!?" Queen C demanded.

"Who? Buffy?" Xander looked surprised as he saw who it was Cordy was staring at. "I wasn't, actually. But so what if I did? Look at that body, Cor. She's Buff-alicious!"

Cordy truly began to despise the new arrival in town. "Are you seriously telling me you're attracted to Buffy Summers? That...that insane-o girl?"

Xander, sensing the green-eyed monster lurking in the brunette's heart, smirked for a moment. "Maybe. What, is that a crime?"

Cordelia wasn't the queen of the sophomore elite for nothing. In retaliation she fastened her eyes on Angel and purred, "Hello, salty goodness. Look at that hunk she's talking to!"

"No, no, no, NO!" Xander forced her to look at him. "Cordy? He's not your type. Trust me on that one!"

( _Ah, this is more like it!_ ) "And how exactly do you know who my type is?" she demanded.

"Uh, all the guys I've seen you date since Dawn and I moved in? Besides, Angel's older than you. WAY older. And, and he's got this really weird sunlight allergy. Pretty much on a liquid diet, too. And if he thinks someone my age is just a kid, then you're just gonna crash and burn in public if you try to hit on him."

Cordelia frowned as she allowed Xander to lead her away. She sensed her former childhood enemy was being honest with her, but not completely. ( _Hmmm. Gonna have to figure out what he's trying to hide from me. _)

* * *

**Outside Sunnydale High, Sunnydale**

**The next day**

Buffy, Willow, Giles and Jonathan were discussing the disappearance of Dr. Gregory, possibly the only man on the faculty (apart from the librarian) who didn't think the Slayer was a juvenile delinquent. Not far away, Cordelia and Xander arrived in their limo.

"God, this is getting annoying! I can't wait till I get my own wheels," the Chase girl complained as they left the parking lot. "I'm nearly sixteen, you know, I need my independence!"

"Well, if I can't hitch a lift with you anymore, looks like I'm gonna have to start bus-ing it again," Xander replied.

The offhand remark only served to worsen Cordelia's mood. Every time she thought she was getting somewhere trying to improve Xander's social standing, he'd come up with some lame idea to send himself right back into the realms of loser-ville. ( _I just...sometimes, I really wonder what it is I actually see in that big doofus._ ) "Xander, for God's sake! You wouldn't have to catch that smelly, geek-infested roach coach if you just asked Daddy for one of the cars-"

"I can't afford the gas money or the insurance for anything in the Chase garage, sweetheart. And I think I've told you that," Xander cut her off, glancing at her in annoyance. "I can't even afford to buy a used car, remember?"

( _OHHHH!_ ) the young woman wanted to scream. ( _You pathetic thickhead! You're constantly being given the opportunity to become a Chase on a silver platter. And yet your stupid macho pride always gets in the way? UGHHH!_ ) Then the brunette reconsidered. ( _Wait up. I don't actually want you to be a Chase, though, do I? Because if we ever do start dating, that'd be just too horrible to even contemplate. _)

Caught up in her thoughts, Cordelia wasn't watching where she was going. Thus she crashed into Xander's back, after he had abruptly stopped walking. "OW! Hey, what's the big idea..."

Then the cheerleader saw the guy's face and followed his line of sight. Miss Chase's features instantly grew hard and angry as Xander, slack-jawed, muttered, "That, that must be the biggest chest I've ever seen..."

Harris never even noticed the instant smack to his shoulder. The female teacher he was ogling briefly stopped to talk to Willow, Jonathan and Buffy, and then walked off with Blayne, who had happened to be walking by and offered to show the new arrival to Science 109. Xander turned to Cordelia, "Can you believe it? For the first time in my life, I'm actually looking forward to school! See you later, Cor." Then he hurried off to get whatever info he could out of the Scooby trio.

( _Oh, Lord, how do I get myself into these things? I'm crushing on a guy who won't even give me – ME! – the proper respect and attention I deserve. Oh no, don't tell me I'm turning into Willow Rosenberg? God! It can't be true!_ ) Cordy thought to herself in horror.

Cordelia soon caught up with her friends and put such nasty thoughts aside. Later she, along with the rest of the student body, learned that the new arrival at Sunnydale High was in fact Miss Natalie French, the substitute Biology teacher since Dr. Gregory had vanished. Cordelia hadn't been pleased to see Xander part of the drooling male fan club in class, lusting after Natalie's derriere.

That was why, when she bumped into Buffy at lunch, Cordelia said angrily to the Slayer, "Excuse you!" She went behind the counter, showing a piece of paper to the cafeteria workers. "Medically prescribed lunch. My doctor ships it daily. I'll only be here as long as I can hold my breath."

Cordelia opened the refrigerator, and instantly screamed like the lead actress in a horror flick. Inside the fridge was a headless dead body. Miss Chase backed away, yelling hysterically. "His head! His head! Oh my God, where's his head?!"

Buffy and Willow arrived on the scene, Jonathan and Xander close behind them. Both the boys and the girls were able to see the nametag on the lab coat, 'Dr. Gregory', and instantly looked completely sick and grossed out. Even Buffy looked ill, because even though she'd done quite a bit of beheading in her time it really wasn't the same as when a vampire went poof into dust.

* * *

**Elsewhere within Sunnydale High**

**Later that day**

While Giles and his three teenage charges were discussing the situation in the library, Xander was watching Cordelia talk to the police.

"So you're the one who originally found the body, is that right?" Detective Stein looked into his notebook, as the female teen nodded.

"Yeah. It was, like, majorly horrific! Ugh, I can tell you, it completely put me off the idea of lunch. Which might be of the good, actually. I mean, you don't think this outfit makes me look fat, do you?" Queen C briefly looked down at herself in dismay.

Stein shook his head. ( _Teenagers._ ) "Did you know the victim well? And did you know of anyone who might have wanted to harm him?"

"Oh, no! I mean the way I heard it, everyone really liked Dr. Grubby Ring," Cordelia shook her head.

"I think you mean Dr. Gregory."

"Yeah, uh-huh. By the way, are you any good in helping with speeding tickets? Because see, apparently my chauffeur Roger got hit with this totally bogus fine while he was taking me to this exclusive hair salon recently-"

"I think I've got everything I need for the moment," Detective Stein interrupted, shaking his head again and giving Cordy his card. "If you can think of anything further that might have any bearing on this case, please don't hesitate to call me or my partner, Detective Winslow. All right, Miss Chase?" He quickly moved away, escaping before Cordelia could say anything in reply.

Xander quickly came over. "Hey. You holding up all right?"

"I'm fine," the girl replied. "Well, sorta."

Xander nodded. "Principal Flutie called your parents, and they've sent the car around for you. He said you can go home for the rest of the day. I'll cover for you in class, fill you in with regards to homework and everything later on tonight."

"You aren't coming with me?" Cordelia demanded in disbelief. ( _God, there was a time I'd have had to forcibly restrain him not to try to get out of school!_ )

Harris shrugged. "I can't afford to fall behind in any of my classes." He quickly escorted her to the parking lot before hurrying back to his classes for the rest of the day.

* * *

**Chase Manor, Sunnydale**

**Later that night**

"Did you really see a dead body at school!?" Cassandra said excitedly to Cordelia in her big sister's bedroom.

"Yeah," Cordy didn't look happy at the memory. "It was completely gross, too. What with the way the head was missing and all."

"Ewww!" Dawn chimed in. "And Xander saw it too?"

"Yeah, that I did," Harris said. "That's why I don't want you or Cassandra to talk to strangers at all from now on, understand? In fact, I want both of you to come straight home after school until further notice. No more mall time until they catch this guy, not unless me, Cordy, or Mr. and Mrs. Chase are also present."

"Xanderrrrrr!" Dawn whined at her big brother.

"Hey, you're not _**my**_ brother. You can't give me orders like that!" Cassandra said belligerently, the almost fourteen-year-old girl deciding to stand up for herself.

"Cassandra, there's a killer on the loose out there, don't you understand? Someone who _**kills**_ people. We're not talking about the make-believe stuff you see on TV. If you want, we can go find your parents right now and let them settle this, but think about it. Who do you think they're gonna agree with? Me or you?" Xander demanded.

Cassandra looked ready to throw a tantrum when Dawn touched her arm. "Don't even bother. When Xander gets this way, you can never win. Wanna pig out on some Ben and Jerry's in the kitchen?"

"Yeah!" Cassandra flounced out of the room, dragging Dawn with her and slamming the door shut. Xander then sat down on Cordelia's bed and let her sag into his arms, as the enormity of the day's events hit the female teenager all over again.

While elsewhere Buffy was watching the fork-handed vampire run away in fear after encountering Miss French on the street, Cordelia snuggled into Xander's embrace and thought to herself, ( _I'm so glad Xander's here with me. Kinda weird but true, I really am._ )

* * *

**Sunnydale High, Sunnydale**

**The next day **

Buffy had reported in to her Watcher and was heading for Biology class, wanting to investigate the weirdness regarding the substitute teacher, when the principal cornered her in the school hall. Flutie said, "You have to see a counselor. Everyone who saw the body has to go see a crisis counselor."

Buffy shook her head, "But I really don't need-"

But Principal Flutie interrupted her, "We all need help with our feelings. Otherwise we bottle them up, and before you know it, powerful laxatives are involved! Now there's someone here for you to talk to, and talk to her you will. Because I really believe that if we all just reach out to one another, we can overcome this thing."

"But I really, really don't-"

Bob Flutie seemed determined not to let his student finish a sentence. "No, you have to talk to the counselor and start the healing process. Right now. I mean it!"

"But Mr. Flutie, I-"

"Go! Heal!" the guy insisted. And so with no other option, the Chosen One went over to the counselor's office. Bummed out at remembering the teacher's gruesome death, Slayer hearing again allowed Buffy to hear what Cordelia was saying in the other room...

"I don't know what to say, it was really – I mean, one minute you're going about your normal life, and then it's like, who's that in the fridge? It really gets to you, something like this. But I guess when tragedy strikes, we have to look on the bright side somehow. Like, I think I've lost weight since yesterday, since I haven't been able to eat a thing. You gotta think positive, you know?"

The counselor replied, "I think so. So how did your family react when you shared the news of this tragedy with them?"

"Oh, okay I think. My parents were pretty supportive, even though Daddy muttered something about this not being the sort of thing he wants his name associated with in the papers. But last night, Xander helped me deal a heck of a lot."

The Slayer heard the counselor shuffling some papers and then say, "I'm sorry, Xander is..."

"Oh, him and Dawn are the two other kids living in my house these days. They used to be the Harris charity cases, but now it's like they're part of the family. Well, Dawn is anyway, but I swear – that lame-brain brother of hers wouldn't know what a great thing he's got going, even if it got up and bit him on the ass!"

Buffy sighed and leaned back, automatically tuning out. As this was obviously going to be a _**long**_ session.

* * *

**The residence of "Natalie French", somewhere in suburban Sunnydale**

**Later that night**

Trapped in a cage and about to die in the basement, Jonathan Levinson saw his entire life flash before his eyes. All fifteen years, eleven months, seven days and six hours of it.

Not for the first time, the young man cursed the fact that when Xander had canceled his plans of helping the new Biology teacher make paper mâché egg sacks, he had eagerly jumped in to take Harris's place. Because Miss French was in fact a preying mantis lady in disguise, and on the prowl for male virgins.

She – it – had drugged Levinson after he'd arrived, slipping something into his drink. Then the Slayerette had woken up down here next door to Blayne Mall, who'd babbled about insect mating and biting off heads and how he didn't want to die like that...

( _Buffy. I need Buffy. Buffy!_ ) Jonathan thought to himself. Then his eyes went wide as the She-Mantis opened the cage and dragged him out.

"Kiss me!" Natalie seemed to laugh, her voice still human despite the alien insectoid appearance. "You know you want to!"

"HEEEELLLLP! HEEEELLLLP!" Jonathan screamed like a girl.

His prayers were miraculously answered, when Buffy smashed the basement window and slid in to save the day. Blayne saw her first and called out, "Uh, hey, o-over here, hello! In the cage!"

Buffy ignored him and pulled her bag though the window. "Let him go!" she shouted at the She-Mantis, who was still holding her intended mate and meal.

It was a miracle how Natalie didn't kill Jonathan immediately. But the fight began as soon as the Slayer got close enough to hit the insect woman with bug spray. Willow and Giles came through the window next, and the Watcher headed straight for Jonathan.

Blayne couldn't believe it. ( _What, did making All-Star last year count for nothing here?_ ) "Help me! Help me!"

Buffy ordered her Watcher, "Get everyone outta here!"

But Natalie knocked the Englishman down with one swipe of her claws. A vicious fight then took place with the She-Mantis, before Miss Summers hit the female insect with the sound of bat sonar, severely hurting and disorienting the fake Miss French the moment the tape recorder started playing the noise.

"Bat sonar. Makes your whole insect nervous system go to hell. And you can go there with it!" Buffy snarled as she slashed at Natalie fiercely and repeatedly with a machete, hacking her to pieces.

As Blayne got out of his cage, they all looked over the carnage. "Well, I...I'd say it's deceased," Giles muttered.

Willow nodded. "And dissected."

"Are you okay?" Buffy asked her male friend.

"Yeah, you got here just in time. Thanks, Buffy. Really, I owe you my life," Jonathan said honestly.

The Slayer blushed as Blayne added his thanks as well. Willow said, "Well, I'm really glad you're both okay. And I can't help thinking it's so unfair, how Miss French only went after virgins."

Jonathan stared at his red-haired friend. "What?"

Giles explained, "Well, you see, that's the She-Mantis' modus operandi. Uh, she only preys on the pure."

Everyone stared at the football player as he started protesting, "Hey, I don't know what you guys are talking about. And just so you all know, my dad's a lawyer. Anyone here repeats that to anybody, they're gonna find themselves facing a huge lawsuit!"

Blayne quickly stormed away up the stairs, as an embarrassed Jonathan took the machete and started to destroy the preying mantis's nest. Buffy glanced at her Watcher. "So, the Council can handle it if Blayne does get outta hand, right?"

Rupert Giles just started polishing his glasses, briefly wondering if perhaps he should have stayed with Ethan and the others after that fiasco with Eyghon, all those decades ago.

* * *

**The Bronze, Sunnydale**

**The following night**

Xander Harris, well on his way to being 'the one who sees everything', watched as Angel talked to and then left Buffy at the nightclub's bar, melting away into the crowd the way only a vampire could. Xander's ears then just barely heard the Slayer mutter, "Oh boy!" as she tightened Angel's leather jacket around herself. The male teenager then frowned as he thought over what he had just witnessed.

Without his father around to constantly tell him what a useless screw-up and waste of effort he was, Xander had a lot more confidence in himself and his own abilities than he otherwise would have. Thus he figured that his two acquaintances had been discussing the killer of Dr. Gregory, and that from Buffy's body language, the problem had most likely been taken resolved.

But that wasn't all. He also got the impression that the Slay-gal was starting to fall for Angel, big-time. Oddly enough, Xander wasn't as jealous of the guy as he might have been. Having the ensouled vampire save his life before he'd ever met the Chosen One probably had a lot to do with it, as did his suppressed feelings for Cordelia. Nonetheless, that episode with Darla in the alley notwithstanding, Harris knew that anything romantic between the Slayer and Angel simply wasn't going to end well.

It wasn't just his own attraction to Buffy Summers, or the fact that the bloodsucker was blatantly deceiving her in attempting to pass for human, which gave Xander cause to believe that. It was because he knew that the vampire was over two centuries old and would never change, whilst Buffy would. She would grow up and eventually die while Angel would remain forever the same: eternally young, good-looking, and drinking blood to survive.

Eventually, Xander just shrugged to himself as he went to follow Cordelia home. If Buffy and Angel were going to engage in the whole ill-fated tortured romance deal, then he should probably just keep his distance and let those two realize their mistake on their own. Making sure Dawn remained safe and happy was probably far more important than chasing after some girl, anyway, even if she was the Chosen One and all.

TBC...


	8. Women Problems

See Prologue for disclaimer and details. Hi everybody, and welcome to the latest chapter of the story. Big thanks as always to everyone who's read and reviewed the fic so far, and to all of you we'd like to extend our gratitude for the feedback. Please keep it coming! Now, some people have been asking about the Hyena episode; and that's kind of tricky to deal with, Xander getting possessed by that totemic animal spirit. He'd probably go after Cordelia almost straightaway, and face a statutory rape charge afterwards! We're gonna have to think about that for a while longer, but in the meantime, here's our somewhat twisted version of...

* * *

**Part Seven: Women Problems**

**Chase Manor Pool House, Sunnydale**

**Friday January 10****th****, 1997**

It was Cordelia's sixteenth birthday and the celebratory party was in full swing. Music blared out of the two-storey building that evening, as teenagers danced to the beat of the groove inside the pool house. There was plenty of room for everyone; the Chase family was rich enough that the pool house was actually bigger than Xander and Dawn's former home on White Oak Drive.

Buffy, Willow and Jonathan hadn't been invited to tonight's little gathering, unsurprisingly. They had achieved mega-outcast status by now, and were considered a social leper colony by practically everyone in the school. Xander still talked to them on occasion, but the Scooby Gang was pretty much considered persona non gratis by the rest of the student body.

In essence, Xander knew, this party was reserved for the people completely unlike them. The kids who lived in blessed ignorance, who five days a week woke up, went to school, came home and did nothing except homework and watch TV after dinner. And Sunnydale High's normal crowd were really enjoying themselves here tonight...

All of them except one.

Cordelia Chase was growing tired of the constant act required for tonight's soiree, having to appear poised at all times. She was growing tired of being the darling of Sunnydale high society. The image of the superficial ice queen, whose glare could melt glass and desiccate the remains of the ugly and undeserving, was getting more and more difficult to maintain.

Because she couldn't help but contrast last year's birthday party with this one. Just for a moment the girl wished she could just ditch all her so-called friends and have a really meaningful birthday, preferably a small one with Cassandra, Dawn, her parents, and even..._**him**_.

Thoughts of Xander Harris were unwelcome in Cordelia's mind tonight, sad to say. Even though Xander's birthday present, a bracelet with the inscription 'Yours Always' had been enough to get Miss Chase's heart racing, it still hurt that Xander refused to resume their romantic relationship, especially tonight.

"Hi. Great party!"

Cordelia turned and automatically said, "Thanks..." before she blinked. "Uh, wait. Who are you?"

"I'm Anya," the female teenager wearing a green pendant said airily. "I'm new in town. Apparently our parents met recently? So I thought I should introduce myself, after my mom told me I was invited to attend your little get-together."

"Oh, right. Well, glad you're enjoying yourself," the cheerleader raised her voice, as the band cranked up the volume.

"Is there something wrong? 'Cause whenever I see that look on a girl's face, it usually means that some guy or other has hurt them somehow." Anya now looked concerned, leaning in.

"It's nothing!" Cordelia said loudly, as she dragged her companion away to be able to hear her better.

"Oh, please, I know what I'm talking about. I mean, men? We open ourselves up to them, and the only thing we get back from them in return is pain," Anya said vehemently. Queen C looked somewhat surprised as the other brunette began to rant. "They treat us like dirt, you know. And if she's really unlucky, a woman ends up pregnant, barefoot and constantly slaving away in the kitchen – while he's at a bar along with the rest of the boys from work, cheating on you with the damn barmaids!"

( _Okay, someone definitely has issues. Circa the 1950's._ ) Cordy took a step back. "Look, I don't-"

"Terrific party, 'Delia!" one of the school's football players yelled at Cordy as he passed by – somewhat inebriated from the spiked punch.

"Moron," the birthday girl scoffed, as she saw the jock try to make out with his girlfriend.

"Precisely," Anya affirmed. "They're all the same, I tell you. I mean the guy who hurt you, don't you wish something bad would happen to him?"

"What?" Cordelia turned questioningly to Anya.

The young-looking woman smiled. "If you could wish for just one thing, one little revenge on the man for whatever he's put you through. What would it be?"

The question intrigued Cordy, but as her eyes swept around the party scene she couldn't help noticing various couples snuggling or making out together. The Cordettes in particular were definitely enjoying themselves. Aura was practically doing it with Percy West, Kate was swapping spit with John Lee, Gwen was playing tonsil hockey with Gage Petronzi, and Joy was kissing Hogan Martin with a lot of tongue.

( _Everyone's getting some except me? It's my damn birthday!_ ) Cordelia fumed. Unfortunately, she had to make do without a significant other for tonight as she was between boyfriends. And it didn't matter if the boy she really wanted to claim for her own was currently in the makeshift kitchen.

"Cordelia?" Anya pressed, noticing how her companion appeared distracted.

"Huh? What?" Cordy looked back at her.

Anya, who was in fact the undercover vengeance demon named Anyanka, tried to keep a tight rein on her admittedly short temper. ( _Idiot mortal child!_ ) "What would you wish for?"

"Cordelia! Cordelia!" Harmony's voice broke in.

"Excuse me." Cordelia turned around, missing out on Anya's grimace of frustration. "What is it, Harm?"

"Come quick! There's a major disaster about to happen in the kitchen!" the blonde cheerleader said in a panic.

The two females raced away and Anyanka unobtrusively followed. When the girls got there they saw the school bully named Jack O'Toole brandishing a knife, one nearly as big as a sword, in front of the boy named Wendell Sears.

"Uh, what are you planning to do with that?" Wendell asked nervously.

"Whatever I like. Her name's Katie; I just got her," Jack hissed. "So what are you gonna do? Sic your spiders onto me?"

"Drop the knife. Right the hell now," a male voice said right behind O'Toole.

"What the fu-"

That was all Jack was able to get out because as he started to whirl around, knife in hand, a frying pan connected directly with his head. The high school senior instantly collapsed to the floor with a solid thump, out cold. Xander dropped the pan, grabbed the knife and looked around to Cordelia, "Whoa. Okay – your house, your rules, Cor. What do we do with him?"

"I say, let's flay him alive!" Anya said excitedly, unable to help herself.

Cordelia instantly dismissed her new acquaintance as a complete weirdo, and then she resumed her duties as hostess of the event. She said to Xander, "Find a couple of people to help you throw him out. Who the hell invited that guy, anyway?"

Harmony instantly looked away. "Uh, who knows?"

"Wendell, grab his legs. Uh, miss, could you give me a hand over here?" Xander asked Anya politely.

Anyanka almost said no but eventually decided to help out, a male being punished in any way shape or form was something she could never resist being part of. They carried Jack out the back door and then unceremoniously dropped him to the ground, once they were far enough away from the party.

Wendell immediately headed back to the pool house, leaving the other two behind. "Thanks," Xander said to the vengeance demon. "Uh, by the way? We haven't been officially introduced. I'm Xander Harris."

"I know. I'm Anya Jenkins," the former Aud said coolly.

"Right. Uh, y'know, that was an interesting comment you made just now about flaying Jack alive here. So, could you do me a favor?" Xander asked.

"What?"

The boy didn't reply. Instead he tossed Anya a cross, and out of reflex she caught it. When there was no visible game face or smoking flesh, Harris sighed in relief. "Thank God."

( _He knows about vampires?_ ) Anyanka thought to herself, amused. ( _Interesting. Well, what the hell._ ) Without a second thought, she dropped her human mask and the patron saint of scorned women let her real veiny, mottled, demonic face show.

Xander yelped in fear as he jumped back. "What are you?!"

"My name is Anyanka," the demoness grinned evilly, her voice no longer sounding human. "And I'm a vengeance demon, you idiot male. Your girlfriend summoned me to-"

"But I don't have a girlfriend!" Harris interrupted.

"Whatever. The woman you scorned-" Anya tried to continue.

"You mean Willow?" Xander now looked honestly confused, as he cut her off again.

"No! Cordelia!" Anyanka thought to herself angrily, ( _Oh, to hell with the rules, I'm just gonna kill this annoying little twerp without her wishing for it!_ ) So she advanced forward and hit Xander directly in the face with a vicious blow, the impact almost breaking bone.

The male teenager started to crawl backwards after landing on the ground close to Jack, trying desperately to figure out what the hell he should do next. But as Anyanka closed in for the kill, she felt a cold hand grasp her by the shoulder.

"Why don't you pick on someone your own size? Or your own age?"

Anya barely had time to register the question before the hand turned her around, and a male fist impacted right between her eyes with superhuman strength. Staggering backwards, the female demon shook her head briefly. Then she wrinkled her nose, "Great, a vampire. Look, moron, go find someone else to eat tonight, okay? This one's mine!"

"Not gonna happen," Angel replied, already in game face. "And you don't get to have him, I saw him first."

"Geez, what am I? A prize Yorkie?" Xander complained as he got up.

Neither Angel nor Anya paid the mortal any attention. "Damn it, blood breath-" Anya started to say, when her eyes narrowed. "Oh my God! I can't believe it. How did you pull that off? I mean, you can't have a soul – that goes against all the rules!"

"None of your business. Now, are you gonna get lost or do we have to..." Angel trailed off. "Wait a minute, I thought you looked familiar! Rome, 1894. Just before that son of a bitch Immortal had Darla. What's your name again? Anyarta? Anyacar?"

"It's ANYANKA!" she screamed in annoyance. The demoness hated not being recognized properly, no matter what the circumstances. "And just for that, I am _**so**_ gonna kick your ass!"

The battle began in earnest, as the punches and kicks were traded with incredible speed. Eventually Anya charged in swinging, which Angel blocked and then he scored a glancing blow. She shook it off and grabbed the vampire, slamming a savage knee right into where it hurt most. Angel wheezed in shock and pain as he collapsed. Anyanka then picked up a broken tree branch from the ground.

"Say good night, vampy-"

Anya's epitaph was cut short as her voice turned into a pained grunt. Horrible pain seemed to erupt from directly in between her shoulder blades, because Xander – who both combatants had ignored up until now – had buried 'Katie' into Anya's back, all the way down to the hilt.

The cosmic irony of this particular act was unfortunately lost on all three of them.

The vengeance demon staggered, but if Xander had been expecting her to fall down dead then he was sorely disappointed. It took a lot more than that to kill one of D'Hoffryn's girls. The demoness scrabbled around to grasp the knife hilt, as Harris stepped back in disbelief.

Finally she withdrew 'Katie', and Anyanka advanced towards the male worm that had actually dared attack her, with death in her eyes. "You-"

"ENOUGH!"

The booming male voice thundered not far from the pool house, but luckily the music was so loud that none of Cordelia's party guests heard him. Both Anya and Angel, who had gotten up by this point, turned to see who the voice belonged to. And the vengeance demon instantly dropped the knife in consternation.

"You! Stay away from me..." Anya then said a word that was like a long whistling breath.

"Is that what his name is?" Angel muttered to himself, as he caught sight of the familiar black man in the blue-grey robe. "Huh, no wonder..."

Xander glanced towards his so-called bodyguard. "Deadboy, you know this guy?"

"I told you a million times already, _**stop**_ calling me that!" Angel looked peeved.

"I said enough!" the new arrival proclaimed fiercely, even as Harris opened his mouth to reply. Robe Boy disliked having to intervene like this, but there had been no other choice at that moment. "You, the vengeance demon. Leave. Now. And you would be well advised not to return to the Hellmouth ever again."

"Why should I?" Anya demanded irritably.

The servant of a higher power gestured, and Xander instantly froze in his tracks. Angel looked alarmed for a moment, but relaxed once he realized the human's heart was still beating. The black man subsequently answered Anya's question, "Because in one possible future I have seen you die a human death, you fool. Your pendant long since smashed, your life was willingly sacrificed in battle against the forces of the First Evil. And I for one do not find it amusing that this child, this mortal who just tried to kill you...was the only one who truly mourned your loss, then and there."

Angel looked astonished, even as Anyanka went pale. She was easily able to distinguish the truth from a lie after 1100 years as a demon, and knew that this was no lie she had just heard. "The First Evil?" she asked. Making a quick decision, the so-called 'justice' demon teleported out without another word; silently swearing never to come back to Sunnydale again.

"And as for you, vampire, go home. Your services are longer required this evening." Robe Boy then softened his tone a smidgen, even as Angel opened his mouth. "That being said, you did well tonight. So I grant you this boon: sleep the deep sleep of oblivion after you arrive at your destination, and for once – do not dream about your multitude of past sins."

Like a man in a trance, Angel turned around and walked off, leaving the teenager behind. The black man stared at the frozen Xander, recalling their last encounter during 2003. "So, we meet again. What was, was. And what will be, will be. And yet, what once was will not be again...and most likely you will discover the truth of that on your own, all in good time."

The mage then vanished without another word.

Xander subsequently unfroze and looked around, but saw only the unconscious form of Jack O'Toole, who had somehow slept through the entire goings-on. "What the-?" he demanded in confusion, wondering where both the demon and the vampire had gone, not to mention the guy in the funky robes.

( _Goddamn Hellmouth. Almost makes me wish I was one of the ignorant huddled masses again._ ) "Angel? Yo, Deadboy?" he called out.

There was only the silence of the night in reply. Harris looked around again and then, shivering slightly, quickly made his way back to the pool house. Almost immediately he started dragging Cassandra and Dawn back to the main residence, after catching the girls crashing the party and trying out the alcohol-laced punch.

"You two ever try anything like that again, and I'll see to it you're both grounded till you're thirty!" Harris hissed at both female specimens.

"Hey, don't yell at me, it was all Cassandra's idea!" Dawn said grouchily, glaring at the other girl.

"It was not! You're the one who said we should go to the party. I only suggested we try the punch-" Cassandra glared back.

"I don't care who said what, or whose fault this is," Xander interrupted them. "Because as far as I'm concerned, you're both equally to blame. Now you two stay here and watch TV, or a movie or something." Then Xander grinned evilly. "Or else Cordelia finds out just where all the stuff you two steal from her closet is hidden."

"You wouldn't!" Dawn and Cassandra cried out in unison, both looking horrified at the prospect of what the cheerleader would do to them in retaliation.

"Just try me," Xander said firmly, before heading back to Cordelia's party. He ignored the stuffed animal Dawn threw at his back, as sometimes you gotta be cruel to be kind. ( _I don't need this right now, I swear, first that demon battle and now these two acting up._ )

Back at the pool house, people were still having the time of their lives. But eventually around midnight, the party started to wind down and the guests started to leave. Xander looked around for Cordelia, but the girl seemed to have disappeared somewhere. So he said to Mrs. Chase, "Do you want me to go find Cordy so she can wish everyone good night?"

"No, that's all right dear. I'll make up some excuse and tell them all good night for her. Why don't you go to bed? I'm sure you're rather tired," Julia replied.

The aches and pains from the fight with Anyanka earlier in the evening, and the headache of having to discipline the two younger kids, had indeed taken their toll on him. But still Xander said, "I can stay and help you clean up afterwards, ma'am."

Mrs. Chase sent him a funny look. ( _Doesn't he realize that we have the hired help to do that?_ )

After the last of the guests had gone, the middle-aged woman beckoned Xander to the kitchen area for some privacy. "Alexander, please sit down. I'd like for us to talk, if you don't mind."

"Sure thing, Mrs. Chase. Uh, what's this about?" Xander asked.

The wife and mother said softly, "It's been nearly eighteen months since you and your sister joined our family. But this still doesn't feel like home to you, does it?"

"Ma'am?" There was an instant edge of worry in Xander's voice, as he wasn't sure where this was going.

"Alexander, ever since you moved in with us I've watched you give and give and give. For example your Christmas gifts to David and myself, which we definitely weren't expecting by the way! But you don't take anything more than the bare minimum you need. So you don't feel like you're part of this family, do you?" Julia asked calmly.

Xander started to squirm. "That's not it exactly, ma'am..."

"Isn't it? Pardon me if I'm being offensive, but I think it is. And I was honestly wondering what else we could do to get you to accept us into your heart." She sighed. "I spoke with your old social worker Ms. Macnaught about it, and she helped me realize how you're still constantly worried about being separated from Dawn. And that you have serious trust issues with regard to parental figures. Is that why you haven't been receptive to the idea of adoption?"

The young man took a deep breath. "Ma'am, if we're going to be completely honest here...I hate my father, and my father's legacy. But for better or worse I'm a Harris, not a Chase. From the moment Dawn and I started to live here, I wanted to make sure that everyone, including me, never forgot that. My little sister may have been young enough to completely start over – but I wasn't. I want to remember where I came from, and what I could end up becoming if I'm not careful. Did you know that the children of drunks are ten times more likely to become alcoholics than other kids? I don't want to forget that. I can't _**afford**_ to forget that!"

The middle-aged blonde woman nodded as Xander continued, "That doesn't mean I don't appreciate everything you and Mr. Chase have done for us, believe me – I really do. I just...well, please don't take this the wrong way, but I just don't think that it's the best course of action me becoming your son. I think the odds are eventually, we'd both really come to regret it."

Julia shook her head. "I think you're wrong, but then you're not even sixteen yet. And teenagers are supposed to screw up and make mistakes, after all. Well, can we compromise on one thing? You accept the car that David and I are planning to get you for your birthday, and let us take care of the insurance and fuel costs as well. After all, this is Sunnydale – and you'll need a set of wheels to get around town."

Xander was surprised at the offer and opened his mouth to say thanks but no thanks...when he saw the woman's hopeful features, and understood just what the offer really entailed. Accepting the gift would mean a gesture of trust, a demonstration that he understood that the Chase elders were people who just wanted what was best for him and Dawn. Rejecting it would be like spitting in her face, telling this woman that he still didn't trust her and her husband, even after all their efforts to make him feel welcome in their home.

( _And she's right about a car being useful at this point, think of all the money you'll save on bus fare. Or how much easier it'll be to get to a job._ ) "Thank you, Mrs. Chase, that's very kind of you. I accept."

Julia broke out into a wide smile. "No, thank you, Alexander. Oh, and by the way, about what you said a few moments ago? I'm not going to give up hope that you'll call me 'mom' one day...one way or another."

"Ma'am?" Xander wasn't sure what she meant by that.

"You're a good boy, Alexander. Don't think that David and I don't know that. Over the past year you've been a good influence on Cassandra, and Cordelia as well." Mrs. Chase got up and headed for the door, winking at him as she did so. "And if I can't have you as a son, I'd be willing to settle for son-in-law..."

* * *

**Chase Manor, Sunnydale**

**Saturday January 11****th****, 1997**

As he walked towards his bedroom a few minutes later, Xander was officially freaking.

( _Does she know?_ ) Harris kept asking himself in fear and trepidation. ( _Does she know about Cordy and me? Uh, well, maybe she does and maybe she doesn't. After all, we were really careful all that time in La Paz...but were we careful enough? Maybe Mrs. Chase saw something back then. Or maybe Cordy let something slip? No, no, otherwise Mr. Chase would have hauled me in by now to demand an explanation. Maybe Mrs. Chase just figured it all out on her own recently, and hasn't told anybody yet?_ )

The entire thing was a complete mess, either way. ( _Oh, God, what's gonna happen now? I don't-_ )

Xander's thoughts were abruptly cut off when he entered his bedroom, and saw a sight he really wasn't expecting to see.

Namely Cordelia Chase, sitting on his bed, and wearing nothing but one of his shirts. "What the hell kept you?" she demanded, getting up off the covers.

Coming so soon after Mrs. Chase's hint that she knew his big secret Xander just wheezed out, "Uh...ghh...ee...zhee..."

Cordy grinned; she could translate hyperventilating-boy-talk, and knew what sort of power her body had over Harris. "Come on! It's my birthday. And I want my birthday present."

Still stunned, Xander pointed numbly at his bracelet that she was also wearing. Cordelia grinned again and began to sashay over to him. "I meant, my _**real**_ present. Xander. I want you to be my first."

"Baseman? Please tell me we're talkin' baseball!" Xander babbled, backing up and hitting the door, stopping his retreat.

"You _**know**_ what I'm talking about." Cordelia came closer and started to unbutton the shirt. "'Cause I'm ready. I know we're both ready for this. Not to mention, I want to rub it in Harmony's face just how good you are."

( _Okay, am I dreaming? First Anya the demon girl, then Cassandra and Dawn, then Mrs. Chase, and now Cordelia as well. What the hell's going on here?_ ) "Did I mention that as far as the female gender is concerned, I'm having a rather strange night?" the young master of understatement asked.

"No. Does it look like I care?"

Harris suddenly smelled something he wished he hadn't, as soon as Cordelia came close enough. He also finally noticed the minor stagger and the slightly slurred voice. "Cordy?! Have you been drinking?"

The girl noticed his change in expression and stopped undressing herself as she said defensively, "So what, it's my birthday. And I want you-"

"Yeah, but y'know what? I can't help thinking that's the booze talking." Xander's voice was suddenly cold as ice.

( _No it's not!_ ) "Xander-"

"Because you kinda remind me of what my father used to smell like some nights. Not exactly a pleasant memory for me." Xander tried to focus, putting aside the past. "Look, Cordelia, did you say anything to your mom recently? About, y'know, 'us'?"

"What? No!"

The annoyance seemed genuine, and Harris decided to believe her. "Okay, good, then put your clothes back on and we'll just-"

The rest of the sentence was cut off by Cordelia's lips firmly attaching themselves to his own. "Mmmph!"

Despite all his prior intentions, oddly enough Xander found himself responding to her kisses. This girl definitely knew what he liked and exactly how to turn him on. It also didn't hurt one bit that Cordy was practically naked, the alcohol had removed a lot of her conscious inhibitions, and deep down Harris was still very attracted to her.

Xander figuratively began sweating bullets, trying to fight overwhelming temptation as Cordelia stopped kissing him and started to suck on his earlobe. "I, look, I-I don't wanna use force," he tried to explain as she pressed her half-naked body against his.

"Fine, then I will," Cordelia whispered in his ear. She started to unzip his fly.

Which brought the male teen crashing back down to the land of the sane. "Okay! It's time for me to act like a man." Xander unexpectedly shoved Cordelia away. "And hide!"

He rushed out of the room before Cordy could stop him, and eventually spent the night in one of the guest bedrooms. Harris knew that he was being a complete coward, not to mention the girl in this relationship; but what the hell. At least Cordelia would still respect him in the morning.

TBC...


	9. The One With The Angelic Face

See Prologue for disclaimer and details. Hello, all, welcome to the latest chapter of the story and a big grande thank-you (as always) to everyone's who's been reading and reviewing the fic. Guest and Megan, this includes you too! Now, we have a confession to make: we've failed. We tried and we tried, but we've **_failed_**. There was just no way we could incorporate The Pack episode into this story, without Xander looking and feeling like a criminal, despite the possession factor. And since that wasn't where we wanted to go in this story, we decided to duck the whole Hyena Spirit thing and refer to it only in passing (someone else went into the hyena house that day, read on and you'll find out who). Hopefully, we haven't channelled our inner Joss too much...

* * *

**Part Eight: The One With The Angelic Face**

**Sunnydale, California**

**February, 1997**

As Angel walked down the steps to his basement apartment in the gray pre-dawn light, the vampire found himself wondering just what he would do with his time today. Apart from brood about the past, of course. And brood about Buffy. And brood about Darla. And brood about...

Hmm, apart from mealtime it looked like his day was obviously packed after all. Well, such was his burden to bear after everything he'd done, both pre- and post-soul.

Angel quickly let himself into his home, and almost immediately felt a familiar presence. "I know you're there. You may as well come out."

A blonde female form detached itself from the shadows. "Miss me?" Darla taunted the ensouled version of her favorite childe.

"Not really, even though it's been a while. Figured you'd gone back to playing the Master's pet, again, and the old bat nose put you on a tighter leash than normal." Angel seemed remarkably sanguine about it all.

Darla bristled at the implication, even as she buried the idea that Angel might be right. Ever since the Anointed One had been created a thousand days after the advent of Septus and joined the Master, despite all the Scooby Gang's efforts that night to prevent it, Heinrich Nest had indeed curtailed many of the freedoms his minions had previously enjoyed. "Well. You're certainly one to talk about being leashed, precious."

Darla began to walk around the apartment. "Nice place, even if it's a bit on the austere side. I mean really, Angelus, you used to have better taste."

"I also used to be a soulless monster," Angel fired back in reply.

"True. Oh, that reminds me. Anything new about how the curse is flawed somehow?" The former whore seemed to be almost gliding across the floor.

"Hasn't exactly been a priority for me to investigate," the future Champion grunted.

"Yes, I suppose it wouldn't have been. Look at you: you're living above ground, like one of them. You're frequenting that human nightclub, like one of them. But guess what, my love? You're not one of them." She casually stopped by a window, and opened the blinds to let in a stream of sunlight. Angel immediately stumbled backwards to avoid the deadly rays. "Are you?"

"No. But I'm not exactly one of you anymore either," Angel growled, cursing himself for an idiot to have let her get way with that.

"Is that what you tell yourself these days?" Darla opened the fridge, and examined the bagged and bottled blood therein. "Not exactly living off quiche, I see. And please, I know my boy's still in there! I can still feel him, I always could. Hmm. Ever wondered what things would be like right now, if I'd never gotten you that idiot gypsy girl as a birthday gift?"

"For the first fifty years or so."

Darla smiled that predatory smile again. "Well, you wouldn't be making a fool of yourself with the current Slayer right now, anyway. And that poor little thing doesn't have a clue, does she? About what you are, or about the curse, or any of the rest of it. You're too gutless to tell her everything. Or else you think she won't understand. I suppose none of them could understand-"

The momentary glance from Angel was something almost everyone would have missed. But then, Darla wasn't 'almost everyone'. Her jaw dropped in surprise before she said, "My, my. So you have told one of them. But who..." Eventually the light dawned. "Oh! It's that delicious-tasting little boy you saved a few nights before the Harvest, isn't it? Now, that's not like you."

"How would you know? It was over a lifetime ago when we were last together, Darla. Back when you were still wearing kimonos." Angel wanted to steer the conversation onto a different subject. Xander may have been an irritating annoyance, but the kid also had his good points, like plenty of guts in a fight. He'd had to have that in order to enter into battle with a vengeance demon, and the male vampire didn't want his sire to focus on Harris in any way.

But Darla wasn't so easily distracted. "Why, Angelus? What's so special about him?"

"Nothing," Angel replied a bit too quickly. "He wanted to know why I wasn't trying to kill him when he realized I was a vampire, so I briefly mentioned it before I left that night. That's it, really."

The four hundred-year-old woman wasn't so easily fooled. "You never could lie well to me, dear boy. Maybe I should look your little friend up, for old time's sake. What was his name again?" She fought to remember. "Harris something?"

Angel briefly shook his head. "Darla, please." Then he frowned, "And for old time's sake, here's a freebie for you. I was there when the last demon woman who wanted to kill him ran off in terror, after one of his friends showed up. You might not be so lucky, given you've turned someone he knew."

( _He's friends with the Slayer?_ ) Darla misunderstood the warning and ignored the rest of it. "So, is that it? You think he's another Holtz in the making? And you've taken the time to cultivate his friendship, in order for the child not to think of you as a target in the future." Darla suddenly looked disgusted, "Is there any depth you won't sink to, 'Angel'?"

Angel shrugged. ( _If that's what she thinks, so much the better._ ) "This entire conversation is completely pointless. And I think you know where the door is."

Darla began to leave. "By the way, about the Slayer? Eventually, I'm sure she'll discover your little secret; we both know it's amazing you've kept it from her for this long. So maybe you should confide in her, tell her about the curse like you did your little would-be demon hunter. Maybe she'll understand. Well, if she doesn't, you know where I am if you want to talk to someone about it."

A sullen and angry Angel silently watched her leave his apartment, wondering if indeed Buffy could ever understand how he'd once been the Scourge of Europe, and that the trail of corpses from those days numbered in the thousands if not more.

* * *

**The Bronze, Sunnydale**

**Later that night**

School was over for another day and a grand Sunnydale tradition was in progress. Namely the Bronze's fumigation party, where people got free drinks for catching the cockroaches before the place shut down for a few days in order to nuke 'em.

Alone in a dark corner of the club, Xander saw Willow and Buffy talking together as Jonathan joined them from the bar. He could easily guess what their subject of conversation was: the odds were that the two girls were talking about Angel, from the dreamy expression on the blonde Slayer's face. And like Darla before him, Harris found it amazing that she still didn't know the truth about that guy.

Okay, granted that Angel wasn't around much. In fact, he only showed up to talk to Buffy whenever there was something wicked brewing in the town's night life. But wasn't the Slayer supposed to be able to sense vampires? Xander was pretty sure he'd heard his undead acquaintance mention that once. So how come she didn't have a clue about Deadboy's real nature?

( _Maybe it's the soul,_ ) Xander thought. ( _Ordinary vamps ain't got one and they show up just fine on her Slay-dar, or whatever. So maybe its presence muffles his signal or something?_ )

Suddenly, Xander was distracted by the sound of Cordelia angrily ranting at some guy on the dance floor. He shook his head; her sharp tongue was probably going to tear the poor unfortunate's self-esteem to shreds. But that wasn't Xander's concern. His problem was that ever since her birthday, Queen C had been avoiding him like the plague.

Harris was sure that Cassandra and Dawn had noticed, and probably her parents had too. He just hoped Mrs. Chase didn't take that as meaning some sort of intervention was required now. He'd had nightmares recently of Mr. Chase roaring with anger after his wife had spilled everything, and literally drop-kicking him out of the house.

"Your friend appears pretty angry."

Xander congratulated himself on at least not yelping anymore these days, even if Angel's stealthy arrivals still always took him by surprise. "Look who's here, it's the Dark Knight himself! You know, I'd say all that's missing to complete the look is the hood and cape. No, wait, there's also the utility belt..."

Angel repressed any sign of recognition at the pop cultural reference, or the cynical comments. "There's a problem with her?"

Xander sighed as he glanced at Cordy. He had never had any male friends, other than Jesse, and so he'd had no one to unload on since McNally had departed this world; except maybe the creature standing next to him. "Angel, you're old, right? So, can I ask your advice about girls?"

The vampire remained silent for a while. Finally he said, "If that means what I think it does? Most of what I know about women and how I learned it, it would make you sick to your stomach to hear details. And when I was human back in eighteenth century Galway, I was a womanising drunk. Not exactly the pillar of the community, or even someone my family was proud of. Looking back on it, it's hardly surprising that Darla found me such an easy mark when we were alone together in that alley."

Xander's skin got goosebumps as Angel straightened up, "Which reminds me, I wanted to talk to you about her. Darla paid me a visit this morning."

"And?" Xander's feelings regarding that soulless vampire hadn't changed one bit, despite all the months that had passed.

"Your name came up during our conversation. Well, sort of. That means she might be interested in having another look for you, so take some extra precautions for a while. Are you armed?"

Xander briefly took out the stake in one pocket and the cross in the other. "Never leave home anymore without at least one weapon."

"Good." Angel noticed Buffy leaving the club. "I gotta go. Be careful."

He vanished so quickly that Xander wondered whether putting a bell on that guy would actually have any effect. "Nice trick if you can do it."

Indeed. And it soon came to pass that Angel and Buffy encountered the Three after she left the Bronze: warrior vampires who were very proud and very strong, dedicated to the duty given them by the Master. And yet, they too failed to kill their assigned target, like all the other vampires before them.

The Three offered their unlives as penance, and as expected the Master had Darla kill them. And it was an excellent example for the Anointed One to learn from, in Nest's not-so-humble opinion. Collin was coming along well and his power was growing nicely. No doubt, soon the time would come for the Anointed One to fulfill the prophecy and lead the Slayer to her doom, in order to free the Master.

Be that as it may, though, Angel ended up stuck in Buffy's house for over twenty-four hours after they'd escaped the Three. And, after she brought him some food that night, and a somewhat amusing discussion regarding her diary took place, the inevitable finally happened.

Angel and Buffy kissed.

Unfortunately, on Angel's part, the sexual desire was mixed with the longing for that incredibly tempting and potent Slayer blood. And once the bloodlust could no longer be denied, the vampire went into his demon face and growled at her. Eyes bulging, Buffy almost screamed at the sight, but Angel left via the bedroom window just before Joyce came in.

( _Damn it! Guess Harris was right after all. It's gonna be slay-now-ask-questions-later time from this point onwards._ )

* * *

**Sunnydale High Quad, Sunnydale**

**The next day**

Cordelia Chase was in a state of shock. "What?"

Giles, Buffy, Willow and Jonathan looked around at her, fearing the brunette had overheard their conversation regarding how Buffy was in love with a vampire. But all Cordy cared about was that another girl was wearing the exact same dress she had on. "Where did you get that?"

As Cordelia pursued her target, she yelled, "This is a one-of-a-kind Todd Oldham. Do you know how much this dress cost? Is that a knockoff?" Queen C angrily checked the label once she caught up with the offending female, "This is a knockoff, isn't it?! Some cheesy knockoff! This is exactly what happens when you sign these free trade agreements!"

"Um, Cordy? I think people are beginning to stare," Harmony murmured into her ear, after looking around.

Cordelia ignored that. "I'm going to talk to that asshole Todd, you mark my words! And if he doesn't provide me with another one-of-a-kind dress, I'll somehow see to it his entire New York line gets completely blacklisted!"

As the cheerleaders disappeared inside the building, Jonathan had an idea. "Uh, about Angel? It just occurred to me, someone we know might know something." So a bit later, Xander was brought to the library for the gang to interrogate him about Angel.

Needless to say, that was a bad idea. As soon as Xander entered the library he sensed the confrontational atmosphere after seeing Buffy, Willow and Giles waiting for him. "What is this? My own personal Inquisition?"

"Xander..." Willow started to say in annoyance.

"Don't you 'Xander' me," the young man interrupted at once, much to the redhead's surprise. "You've refused to speak to me all year, Will. For something that wasn't my fault, or even necessarily a bad thing. But now you want to talk? Come on..."

Unfortunately, Miss Rosenberg stubbornly refused to admit that Xander had any sort of point here. The thought of him doing that sort of stuff with Cordelia Chase, of all people...it just automatically made her sick and defensive as hell. In Willow's mind, in a perfect world she and her crush should have gotten together years ago.

Still, the young woman wasn't also the resident school genius for nothing and so she quickly pulled out her Resolve Face. "We need to talk to you about something, so sit. Please?"

Xander scowled but was unable to resist. ( _Damn. That's my Willow, I still can't say no whenever she asks for something. Even after all this time, and after how much we've drifted apart._ ) "All right, fine. What's this about?"

"Uh, it's come to my attention that you know a certain individual named Angel-" the Watcher started to say.

"Really. Well, you'd be well advised to just forget it and get on with your life. Oh, gee, I wonder where I've heard _**those**_ words before?" Xander snapped back at the Englishman.

Rupert tried but failed to quell his annoyance at the open hostility of this insufferable little git. But he needed answers so Giles continued on, "I'd like to ask a few questions-"

"Go ahead. Doesn't necessarily mean you're gonna get any answers."

"Xander!" Buffy exclaimed.

Willow almost couldn't believe this was the same boy she'd known practically all her life. She'd never seen him act so rude to anyone before. "Xander, what's the matter with you? Why are you acting like this?"

"Because, thanks to past experience, I don't trust him," Harris replied, deciding to get up after pointing in Giles' direction.

"What past experience?" the Slayer demanded.

Xander then turned around, "I saw people get killed at the Bronze, the second night after you showed up in school. And Book Guy here told me to stick my head in the sand about that. And by the way, Buffy? Things are _**not**_ okay between us, either."

The Chosen One looked down, wishing with all her heart that she could somehow erase those days she'd been possessed by that Hyena spirit. Or that she'd let Jonathan go into that quarantined animal house instead, as he'd initially suggested. Or something.

The former leader of the pack hated remembering how, as the possession had grown stronger, she had felt the desire for a mate. Angel wasn't around – she'd always been attracted to the guy – and it was afternoon during school hours, so the Slayer had cornered Xander in an empty classroom. Buffy had then said to Harris, "You're not Angel, but I can make do with you till I find him."

Needless to say, that had pretty much killed the mood as far as Xander was concerned. Being told you're simply a substitute for another guy will usually do that. But unfortunately Hyena Buffy had refused to accept 'no' for an answer, so she'd decided to try her hand at forcefully making Harris...perform.

Luckily a teacher had come in before anything too serious had happened, and told the two teens to either knock it off and get out, or he'd march them straight to the principal. Not that Principal Flutie would have been able to do much at that point, as he'd just become lunch for the other four hyena-possessed kids.

The official story later was that he'd been eaten by a pack of wild dogs that had somehow shown up on campus and then disappeared, without anyone seeing any trace of them. And no one seemed to take much notice of the fact that Kyle, Tor, Heidi, and Rhonda all eventually ended up in an asylum, after dining on principal du jour.

"So how do you feel about me?" Jonathan asked, figuring he might have a shot where the others didn't, and bringing Xander back to the present.

Harris shrugged. "You're okay, I guess. I mean if Willow's your friend, that's good enough for me."

Giles subtly nodded to Levinson, silently letting the male Scooby take point in the questioning of Xander Harris. ( _Hopefully, we can now find out what this bloody prat knows about Angelus, if anything._ )

Jonathan asked, "You mind telling me how long you've known Angel, then?"

"Nearly six months. We met the night before sophomore year started," Xander replied straightforwardly.

"What?" all four demanded, eyes wide.

Xander wasn't an idiot and he suddenly figured out what had happened. ( _I knew it, I knew it, I knew it! Deadboy's finally been outed as a bloodsucker!_ ) "Why do you want to know?" he asked the shorter boy.

"We can't tell you, so don't ask," Giles said firmly even as Jonathan opened his mouth to answer the question. Buffy and Willow nodded, wanting to keep Xander safe; not knowing he knew just as much as they did about Sunnydale's night life.

Xander said just as firmly, "Fine. But if that's the way you want to play it, don't expect me to answer any more of your questions." He quickly strode towards the door, ignoring the frustrated sounds the others made.

Buffy ran over and grabbed Xander's arm, "Hey, wait up! We're not done yet."

Harris slowly turned and glared at her. He growled viciously, "Get your hand off of me, Buffy. Right. The. Hell. Now."

There was no trace of friendliness in Xander's gaze anymore, as memories of his father's past actions and Buffy's hyena persona surfaced in the teenager's mind. Miss Summers could instantly recognize all the signs and gulped. If she wasn't careful, this could get real ugly real fast. "Please, Xander, we just want to know everything you can tell us about Angel!"

"Yeah? So basically you're telling me to choose between the guy who's saved my life twice, and the people who are currently acting like Sunnydale's KGB? Well, just so ya know, I don't need to be a genius to do _**that**_ math," Xander snarled, finally yanking his arm away and storming out of the library.

Buffy made to follow him, but her Watcher called her off. "No, don't bother. I honestly doubt that he knows anything anyway, if Angel was acting the same way around him that he was around you."

Willow slowly shook her head. "This is so unlike Xander, Giles. I've never seen him act like that before."

"It's probably 'cause of me," Buffy said dejectedly, blaming herself. "I mean, you know, after I went all animal-queen-matriarch and stuff on him that day."

"That wasn't your fault," Jonathan insisted at once.

"Yeah, Buffy, darn tootin'. I mean if anyone's to blame, it's the creepy zookeeper who started all that in the first place," Willow said fervently.

"If for a moment we could focus back on Angel," the British man interjected tiredly. "Buffy, obviously we need more information about that particular vampire. And given how Mr. Harris has shown himself to be less than cooperative with regard to that, I was thinking maybe it's best for you to just go directly to the source."

"Yeah, but how do I find the guy? I mean, Angel's like the Invisible Man when he wants to be," Buffy replied.

"Just patrol like normal? If there's a fight, he might show up to save you like he did with the Three," Willow suggested.

"Unless this was all just some kinda ploy by the Master, and now the next time he sees you...Angel tries to kill you?" Jonathan looked uncomfortable even saying that.

Buffy opened her mouth to instinctively deny it, but then shut herself up. She knew that even though Angel had never hurt her, he was nonetheless a vampire. The enemy.

Giles had spoken to the gang earlier about how all the undead hunted and killed people, it was what they did. That even though they looked human, they weren't. So although her heart rebelled against the concept, Buffy knew that Jonathan might be right, that eventually it was gonna end up her Slayer and him dust pile.

* * *

**Chase Manor, Sunnydale**

**Later that night**

Xander was reading the latest Wonder Woman comic when he started to indulge in a rather amusing fantasy about how Cordelia's ass would look wearing the Star Spangled Banner. He quickly shook himself, ( _Damn it, stop that! She's not your girlfriend, and never will be._ ) Harris then hesitated, ( _Well, I guess._ )

He knew Cordelia was out on a date with Owen Thurman tonight. ( _It's just, I know darn well that she's only doing this to get back at Buffy for dating Owen first. Not to mention try to make me jealous. Which, God help me, might actually be working. Man, what is with those two vixens? And girls in general, while we're at it?_ )

The teen was interrupted in his thought processes when he heard a rapping on the balcony door. ( _Who the hell could that be?_ ) Xander strode to the door. His bedroom was on the second floor of the mansion and it was past sunset, so no one should be on the balcony right now. ( _Unless..._ )

Xander's suspicions were confirmed when he saw Angel's face at the door. Harris opened up and went outside. "Hey. What are you doing here?" The young man could guess, but wanted to hear it direct from the vampire.

Angel couldn't help but notice there had been no offer to invite him into the house. ( _Kid's still playing it smart, good._ ) "I need your advice on what to do about Buffy."

Xander nodded. "She knows you're a vampire now?" Off Angel's look he went on, "I had a little chat with her and her pals about you earlier today, so it doesn't take Albert Einstein to put two and two together. And you know how some people hate to say, 'I told you so'? Not me. I told you so, pal. Right from the start too, if you remember."

"Not helping, Harris," Angel growled.

"Yeah, yeah. Look, tell me what happened exactly and maybe I can help you figure something out. I mean, what have you got to lose at this point?"

The ensouled vamp shrugged, and quickly related all the details. Xander couldn't help feeling a little jealous over his rival's success for Buffy's affections, but he quickly squashed that as well as he could. ( _She's definitely still jonesin' for Angel, so may as well face it. The mysterious stranger has won the fair maiden's heart, which means it's time to just forget about her already._ ) "Okay, I've got an idea."

"What is it?" Angel asked.

"You and Buffy have a little pow-wow, preferably in a neutral location. Y'know, convince her that you're no threat to the locals," Xander shrugged.

"It's not that simple. She's a Slayer. I'll never be able to convince her that a vampire's no threat to anyone human, her Watcher will see to that," Angel replied gloomily.

( _Well, there's nothing else I can think of._ ) "Maybe. But what if I act as the intermediary?" Xander asked.

"Huh?" Angel didn't get it.

"Trust me." Xander went back inside, picked up the phone and dialled 411. Angel's vampiric hearing allowed him to hear the mortal saying, "Hello? I'd like the listing for Summers, please. Uh, I don't know, how many female names are there in Sunnydale? Right, Joyce. Yeah, 555-0193, I got it, thanks."

"Xander..." Angel called from the balcony, having figured out what was going on but helpless to intervene.

"Just gimme a sec." He paused, dialled again and then said into the phone, "Buffy? Yeah, this is Xander Harris from school. Look, Angel's here at my house-"

A loud blast of noise instantly erupted from the phone's receiver, causing the young man to jerk his head back for a second. "Hey, calm down! I just wanted to tell you I spoke with him, and he wants to meet with you somewhere to explain what happened last night. Y'know, white flag deal. I was thinkin' maybe the Bronze? I know it's closed tonight, but..."

Xander shut up and listened for a while. Finally he responded, "Y'know, Buffy, I don't recall enlisting in the army and taking some oath to just blindly follow your orders like that! Be at the Bronze tonight or not. As far as I'm concerned, it's totally up to you." The young man then hung up and went outside again. "You heard all that?"

"This is a mistake," Angel replied, shaking his head. "I'm sure of that much. The Council will have ordered her to kill me on sight by now."

Xander shrugged. "Maybe, but I think we both know our girl doesn't just follow orders like some kinda robot. And despite what happened today in the library, I'm also thinking Buffy has a brain and does what she thinks is right. Why else would Jonathan and Willow be helping her?" He shook his head. "No, just go there and give it your best shot. Okay, make sure you've got a safe way out so that if I'm wrong, you can make with the hasta and get the hell outta Dodge if you have to. But come on, dude, you owe Buffy an explanation at least. A chance to understand the truth about you. Wouldn't ya say?"

Angel looked torn, recalling the orders of Robe Boy before he silently nodded and vanished. Xander returned to his bedroom, locking the balcony door behind him. Then he headed down to the kitchen to get something to eat.

On his way down, he heard Dawn and Cassandra singing Helen Reddy ballads in the Chase girl's bedroom. For some reason, the sound of "I am Woman, hear me roar" gave him a chill and Harris suddenly wondered whether he should go to the Bronze as well. Maybe Buffy would try to stake Angel straight off the bat, and Deadboy would need someone in his corner.

But if he left the mansion, that meant leaving Dawn, Cassandra, and Cordelia all alone here if Darla should happen to show up.

( _Nah, forget it. Angel can look after himself, and I don't have a sacred duty to save everybody out there like the Slayer does. My sacred duty is to take care of my little sister. And Cassie and Cordy as well. If that damned bitch does show her face, I'm the only one around here who knows how to deal with her._ )

Xander quickly made and ate his sandwich, before he returned to his room and took out the battered old suitcase underneath his bed, a souvenir from when he'd first moved in here. The teenager unlocked it and examined all the hand-made stakes, holy water, and crosses he'd collected over the last few months. He had even acquired a silver knife from somewhere best left unmentioned.

He was ready for battle. Xander just hoped there would be no need for it tonight.

* * *

**The Bronze, Sunnydale**

**The following evening**

It had been a hectic twenty-four hours, to say the least. Instead of the Chase manor, Darla had shown up at the Bronze whilst Buffy and Angel had been in the middle of their little summit meeting. Things had gotten more than a little chaotic when the female vamp went way totally gun-happy.

Luckily, Giles and the Slayerettes were present to distract the soulless demon and in the ensuing fight not only did Angel get shot, multiple times, he staked his own sire for the Slayer when there was no other choice.

His inner Angelus had howled in fury at Soul Boy's actions, and elsewhere the Master had also thrown a temper tantrum as he'd felt his favorite offspring die through the sire-childe link. But Collin had calmed Nest down, and later things had pretty much gone back to normal.

But, from a couple of Darla's remarks, Buffy and her posse now knew that Xander knew everything.

That was why tonight, at the Bronze's annual post-fumigation party, after talking to and kissing Angel goodbye, Buffy headed straight for Xander; who was sitting alone in his usual alcove. He'd felt it was safe to come here to keep an eye on Cordelia, as Dawn was currently away in Los Angeles with Mrs. Chase and Cassandra on a shopping trip. Willow and Jonathan quickly followed Buffy, as the Slayer slid into the table seat across from Harris and glared at him.

"I'd say hi and please sit down, but it looks like you already pretty much trumped me on that one," Xander said cynically.

Buffy kept glaring at him while Willow and Jonathan sat down as well at Xander's gesture. The Chosen One said, "How long have you known?"

"Hello, Xander, how are you? Pretty good, Buff, how about yourself? Oh, not too bad. Even though I'm flunking History, because I've cut class just about every day this semester," the male teen did a lousy imitation of the Slayer's voice.

"Hey, I've been tutoring her! And Buffy will pass History this year, even if I have to sweat blood to accomplish that," Willow piped up, and then looked incredibly embarrassed when everyone briefly stared at her.

"Don't try to avoid the subject, Xander. Last night, when Darla got staked, we learned that you know all about the things that go bump in the night. So why didn't you ever say anything?" Buffy demanded.

( _She's dust now? Damn, wish I could have been the one to do it, but at least Jesse's been avenged. So rest in peace, buddy._ ) "Why didn't _**you**_?" Xander fired back.

"I'm the Slayer!" Buffy exclaimed.

"So?"

"Uh, secret identity thing and all that," Jonathan said hurriedly, seeing Buffy momentarily gape at the question.

"And yet, Jon-boy, you and Willow here obviously know what's what. Have done right from the start, I'm guessing? So what's the big deal, if now you know that I do too?"

Buffy was getting frustrated. This wasn't going the way she'd expected at all. "Look. All I want to know is, have you been fighting vampires on your own? Because if so, it stops right now. These things are dangerous, Xander!"

Harris's eyes narrowed to slits. "Gotta say, Buff, the commanding general thing – not exactly loving it here. Reminds me a bit too much of what happened in that classroom that day, when you thought you could make me do whatever you wanted." Buffy looked upset as he went on, "And yeah, I've killed a vampire and fought a demon or two in my time. Who do you think it was that staked Jesse right here in the Bronze, that night when you went to town on all those bloodsuckers?"

"You what?" Willow whispered, her eyes wide as she remembered the events of the Harvest. ( _And he never said anything? All this time, we've been wondering what happened to Jesse after he was vamped – and now I hear that Xander killed him?_ )

"Yeah, Will. Sorry, but it had to be done. So, guys, what's the deal? Are you saying you want me to join your little Scooby Gang, or what?" Xander asked.

Buffy was rather confused. "Huh? Look, Xander, I just don't want you to get hurt."

"And I'm not looking to get hurt, believe me. But I also intend to keep my little sister safe at all costs, Buffy. And just so you know, if one day that means I have to die so that Dawn gets to live? That's something I honestly don't have a problem with."

Willow was surprised to hear that, but not as much as Jonathan and Buffy. She remembered, when Xander's mom had died and his dad had gone to jail, how the owner of her heart had said his only priority anymore was Dawnie. The redhead simply hadn't realized just how seriously he'd meant it.

The meeting quickly broke up with nothing definite decided, but as the Rosenberg girl was about to leave Xander said softly, "Willow? Please stay. There's something I wanna talk to you about. In private."

The Chosen One and the male Slayerette left after Willow indicated it was okay. "What is it?"

"How long are you gonna keep holding what happened last summer against me?" Xander asked point-blank.

Uncomfortably reminded of his involvement with that particular brunette enemy, Willow scowled at Xander. "Is this some sort of attempt to convince me that Cordelia's changed, that she's worthy of you or something? Well, forget it!"

"No, it's not that. I mean, Cordy isn't the monster you think she is-"

"Are you kidding me?" the young woman interrupted, sounding incredulous. "Have, have you forgotten everything that she's said and done to both of us since kindergarten?"

"Again, no," Xander kept his voice level. "But it's kinda funny how all you know and judge her for is the act Cordy puts on for her adoring public. Because that's what it is, Will. It's really just an act. And I know that, 'cause I've seen what she's like in private. Cordelia isn't the evil bitch you think she is – at least not with Dawn, Cassandra and me. She's often funny and kind. And when we're alone-"

"ACK! NO! I don't want to hear it!" Willow shuddered in horror and heartbreak, thinking Xander had been about to say what a great kisser Cordelia was or something equally gross.

"Fine. All I'm saying is, I know what the real Cordelia's like, and she's not some demon from Hell. There's a human being in there underneath the surface, one who has the same kind of hopes and dreams as the rest of us. I'm just hoping that one day, my oldest friend and her can be in the same room without hating one another," he said passionately.

Willow's heart sank all over again. She understood what Xander was really trying to say. It was a subtle version of the 'I hope we can still be friends' speech, because at no point during the conversation had the guy said anything about the love that _**she**_ had felt for him all these years. ( _Maybe Xander's given up on both Cordy and Buffy by now, but he still doesn't feel the same way about me that I do about him. God, I'm doomed to be the only girl in school without a boyfriend!_ )

Knowing nothing as yet of the young man named 'Oz', Willow got up and said, "It's just...painful. You know, knowing that she gave you something that I can't. Or at least, th-that you don't want from me."

"Willow..." Xander said pleadingly.

"It's okay, Xander," the redhead said, backing away. "I just...I'll see you at school on Monday." Then she left.

( _Great, perfect, I've broken her heart all over again. How do I keep getting myself into these things?_ ) Xander asked of someone up above.

Robe Boy could have told him, but then that particular mage wasn't around tonight for him to do so.

TBC...


	10. What A Nightmare, Charlie Brown

See Prologue for disclaimer and details. Hi, and welcome to the latest chapter of the fic! Wow, over 80 reviews and over 10,000 hits; when we started out we weren't really expecting that level of interest for this AU season one tale. So thank you, and please keep the feedback coming, people! Hmm, after one particular PM, it suddenly struck us as odd that we haven't really defined a bad guy for this story. I mean, we've mentioned the Master in passing, but not really focused on him all that much so far. So hopefully this chapter will fix that a bit, and also give you an insight into Xander's mind after all the changes in his life thus far...

* * *

**Part Nine: What A Nightmare, Charlie Brown**

**The Master's underground cavern, Sunnydale**

**Late April, 1997**

If there was one thing you could say about life on the Hellmouth, it's that it was almost never boring.

Xander had eventually worked out his issues with Buffy, once Jonathan informed him of certain facts regarding the Hyena spirit possession. And in an attempt to get over Harris once and for all after that agonizing conversation in the Bronze, Willow started engaging in an on-line romance with someone she thought was a boy named Malcolm. Unfortunately for her 'Malcolm' turned out to be a demon named Moloch, who tried to kill the cute redhead after Buffy and Jonathan discovered the truth about what it was; namely, an unleashed demonic presence on the Internet.

Fortunately, Moloch had failed and died after being bound into a robot body by a magic ritual. And the three teens had later moped about their love lives, suspecting that any sort of romance on the Hellmouth was doomed never to end well. Teen angst and hormones aside, though, everyone was safe and well, so things could always be worse.

Which was indeed the case, after Flutie's replacement Principal H.R. Snyder arrived on the scene.

An ill-tempered and balding little man, one could hardly come up with a more implausible candidate for moulding the minds of the next generation into responsible, well-educated adults. But since the Mayor had personally instructed the school board to accept Snyder into his new position, there was nothing anyone could do except grin and bear it.

And the new sheriff at Hellmouth High had certainly wasted no time in demonstrating to everyone who was the boss around here. That was done by putting Giles in charge of the annual school talent-less show, and also forcing Buffy, Willow and Jonathan to take part in the proceedings after catching them mocking the librarian and the school event.

No amount of pleading or bribery could move the new principal into renouncing his edict. To quote the man himself, "my predecessor, Mr. Flutie, may have gone in for all that touchy-feely relating nonsense, but he was eaten. You're in _**my**_ world now. And Sunnydale has touched and felt for the last time."

And since this was the Hellmouth, things just _**had**_ to become worse by the appearance of a Brotherhood of Seven demon, and a demon hunter named Sid trapped in the body of a ventriloquist's dummy. There was also the murder of two teens, Emily and Morgan. But in the end the demon was killed, Sid's soul was set free and the three friends gave a rather memorable performance of the play 'Oedipus Tyrannus' up on stage.

But all that was of no interest to the Master. Right now the centuries-old vampire was staring upwards, as the Anointed One received the latest lesson from his mentor. "Fear is a wonderful thing. It is _**the**_ most powerful force in the human world. Not love, not hate..._**fear**_! When you were a mortal boy, what did you fear?" Nest crouched down to face the other undead.

"Monsters," Collin replied truthfully.

"Oooh, interesting. Because we are defined by the things we fear." He got up and faced the large cross that was present in that underground church. "This symbol, these two planks of wood, it confounds me. Suffuses me with mortal dread. But fear is in the mind." The Master put his hand on the cross and held on while it burned him. "Like pain, it can be controlled."

The Master let go and said forcefully, "If I can face my fear, it cannot master me." He then looked back up. "Something is happening above. Something new, powerful, a psychic force perhaps. Do you feel it?"

Collin nodded. "I feel change."

The Master looked positively gleeful. "Change. Yes. For the worse."

* * *

**Sunnydale High, Sunnydale**

**The same time**

Cordelia Chase had by this time figured out that something was...different...about Sunnydale High these days.

It had been nearly eight months since sophomore year had started, and the number of strange occurrences and unnatural deaths had skyrocketed since Buffy Summers had ridden her unwelcome fanny into town. The Chase girl had a great deal of intelligence, and her ability to repress was steadily eroding. But the problem there was that had led to her so-called faithful followers starting to question Cordelia's fitness to be the queen of the elite.

"Why are you defending Xander so much these days?" Harmony asked out of the blue, while Cordelia was checking her hair and make-up in the girls' bathroom mirror.

"What do you mean?" Queen C demanded at once, turning around and lowering her blush.

Miss Kendall briefly gulped, but nonetheless continued on. "Well, uh, we've all noticed it. Every time any of us – Kate, Gwen, Joy, Aura or even me – if we mention his lameness factor or how Xander's such a complete loser, you glare at us like we're wearing Laura Ashley or something. So I think I speak for everyone when I ask, what's going on?"

"Nothing's going on," Cordelia hissed angrily. "And nothing's changed between Xander and me. Is that clear?"

"Uh, yeah..." Harmony hesitated then quickly blurted out, "So, you're not pregnant with his kid?"

"What?" Cordelia somehow managed not to scream out loud. "Who the hell's been spreading that rumor?"

"No one! I swear," the blonde cheerleader babbled. "It's just, Blayne Mall recently mentioned to me something about Xander threatening to kill him once. Y'know, over some locker room rumor about how easy you are. And I figured, since you guys are more than just friends-"

"Whoa! Back up," Miss Chase cut her off at once. "Who gave you the idea that Xander and I were more than friends?"

"Well, I..." Harmony trailed off. As all that was just her own opinion, after all.

"I thought so. Now listen up because I'm only going to say this once, Harmony. Xander and I aren't together, but even if we were – it'd be none of your business! I do whatever I wanna do, and I date whoever the hell I wanna date. No matter what the opinions of my so-called friends are," Cordelia said forcefully, as she gathered her things and barged out of the restroom.

Harmony stared after her role model, part-confused and part-terrified about being kicked out of the inner circle. And outside, despite outward appearances the other cheerleader was ready to start panicking.

Cordelia knew that her influence over the Cordettes was in grave jeopardy. She also had few illusions about how one of them might seek to overthrow her rule over that mean-spirited and catty bunch at some point in the near future. Even though Xander and Dawn had been living with her family for so long, in the eyes of those snotty rich bitches that particular pair still were and always would be Harris's. And thus, low-born scum. With a worried frown, Cordelia went to her next class wondering what to do.

Not far away, Team Slayer started questioning Wendell Sears, whose worst nightmare regarding spiders had somehow come true yesterday. And perhaps not surprisingly, Xander was included in that interrogation squad.

He had started rebuilding his friendship with Willow and establishing a rapport with Jonathan and Buffy lately. Even though Harris still didn't get along too well with Giles, he had also started hanging out with the gang in the library. It was the place to be, if Xander wanted to keep himself in the loop about what was really happening on the Hellmouth.

"So, about your love of spiders...?" Xander prompted Wendell as he focused on the task at hand.

"I had the best collection in the tri-county area. Browns and tarantulas and black widows...then my folks shipped me off to wilderness camp. All my brother had to do was maintain their habitats. Instead, he left their heat lamp on for a week. When I came home, they were all dead. That's when the nightmares started," the boy confessed.

Willow asked, "The nightmares?"

Wendell nodded. "It's always the same. I'm sitting in the classroom, teacher asks me to read something, I open up my book and then there they are. They're comin' after me. God, can you blame them after what I did?"

Jonathan looked confused. "And that's how it happens? Every time?"

"Yesterday in class, I thought I'd just nodded off again. But then everyone else started screaming too. Talk about weird," Wendell had a strange look on his face as he left the Scoobs.

Everything seemed to very quickly spiral down into the realms of a bad horror movie after that. A girl named Laura was severely beaten by what could only be described as the Ugly Man, and she ended up in hospital, just like the boy known as Billy Palmer who'd been hospitalized the previous week.

A punk kid at school was humiliated by his mother's laughter and kisses in front of all his friends.

Giles became illiterate.

Jonathan got his head dunked into the swimming pool by a couple of jocks, precisely when his asthma flared up.

Willow got shoved onto the stage of 'Madame Butterfly' and was expected to sing opera.

Buffy was confronted by her father – who told her that her parents' divorce was all her fault, that she was an incredible disappointment as a daughter, and that there was no point in him coming to visit her anymore.

No doubt about it. Everyone's personal nightmares were coming to life all around them.

Giles, Willow and Jonathan eventually started to figure out how this was Billy Palmer's fault, that the kid was astral-projecting his way out of his coma and inadvertently bringing the nightmare world with him. At the same time, Cordelia opened her locker and looked into the mirror.

( _No! No!_ ) Her hair, her pride and joy, had become totally frizzy, and the girl freaked out. ( _This is just a dream. A nightmare!_ ) She tried to force a comb through it, but to no avail. "This can't be happening! I was just at the salon!" Cordy put her hands on her head in terror, "Oh my God! Somebody, help me!"

That was the worst thing imaginable she could have said. Because a couple of nerds grabbed Miss Chase by the arms, and dragged her away down the corridor. "Hey, stop! What are you two geeks doing?"

Cordelia's eyes went wide as they approached their destination. The Chess Club room. "No! You don't understand! I don't wanna go in there! I'm not even on the chess team! I swear, I'm not!"

"Both of you, let her go! Right the hell now!"

Cordelia's heart soared at the sound of Xander's voice, and the two members of the Chess Club instantly obeyed his orders. Harris glared at the male duo and they left immediately, as Cordy flew into his arms, "What's going on? What's happening to me?" She paused. "And do you have any mousse on you, by any chance?"

Xander shook his head as he stepped away from her. "Cordelia-"

"Cordy!" They turned to face Harmony, who had just joined them in the school hallway. "And Xander. This is perfect! You're both present to hear the big announcement."

"What announcement?" Miss Chase demanded.

"That Xander and I are going to start dating!" the blonde proclaimed happily, before grabbing Harris into a passionate kiss.

"NOOOOOO!" Cordelia screamed, no doubt being heard by over half the school in the process.

It was currently impossible to say just whose nightmare this was; Cordelia's or Harmony's. But either way, after the kiss was over, both cheerleaders fainted; falling face-down onto the floor.

"Okay, wasn't expecting that." Xander wiped his lips in disbelief as he stared at the two unconscious girls. All around him, kids started freaking out as their personal nightmares came to life. Then the young man heard his name being called from the door leading down to the basement. "Xander..."

He went to the door, opened it and started down the stairs. "Xander..." the youth heard again.

( _That voice. I know it, don't I? I'm sure I do, I just don't know where from._ ) "Hello?"

"Down here."

Xander came all the way down the stairs and flicked on the light. "Who's there?"

And then his own personal nightmare appeared, as the boy saw...himself.

But it wasn't another teenage Xander Harris. This guy looked to be way older than that; in his forties maybe, with a beer gut and stubble from not having shaved for several days. He also reeked of alcohol.

"Hello, Xander. How are you, pal?" the older version of Harris sneered. And suddenly the teenager knew why that voice had sounded so familiar; it was because he heard it every time he opened his own mouth.

"This isn't happening. It's just a nightmare," Young Xander said fervently, lapsing into pre-Buffy habits.

Old Xander lashed out and hit the teen in the face with a backhand blow, exactly like his father used to hit him. "And here I thought Deadboy had cured us of living in denial like that. What's the matter, Xander? Don't you like this little glimpse of your future?"

"I AM NOT YOU!" The male teen tried to deny his nightmare's words.

"God, I cannot believe what a complete and utter idiot you can be! No wonder Buffy prefers her boyfriend to be someone of the room temperature persuasion. You really thought you could compete with Overbite in any way? Guess again. And what in God's name makes you think Cordelia will really ever want to settle for you? You're trash, kid!"

"I AM NOT!" Xander screamed at his doppelganger.

"You're a Harris, and what's more – you are your father's son. Blood will tell," Old Xander seemed to delight in the youngster's distress and pain. "Face it. You're destined to become the next member of a long line of useless drunks. Come on, I've got a six-pack of beer around here somewhere. What say we get started on teaching you how to hold your liquor?"

Young Xander shook his head forcefully, as the middle-aged man grabbed him by the scruff of the neck. "By the way, about Dawn. As soon as you're properly drunk, we'll go find her at Sunnydale Junior High. You remember what your father was planning to do to your sister that night, don't you? So let's show her just what a hot date Xander Harris can be instead!"

That did it.

This nightmare representation of his future self had ventured into a place that no one could go to, and emerge unscathed.

The male teenager instantly erupted with unbridled fury, and the ensuing fight was as brutal as it was ugly. Both versions of Xander Harris battered one another with whatever they could find in the basement, the youth screaming at his opponent all the while. But it soon became obvious that Young Xander had more fitness and stamina, and eventually he found one of the spare pipes used for the boiler and swung it at Old Xander's head.

The drunk went out like a light, but Harris didn't stop there. Xander wound up to swing again at the older version of himself as he hissed, "You aren't going anywhere near Dawn. EVER!"

At that point, the world seemed to stop turning for a timeless moment as the universe itself suddenly held its breath. With all his heart the guardian of the Key wanted to smash the pipe down onto the other Xander's head, to hear the wet crunch of steel penetrating flesh, and forever put an end to that particular threat to his little sister. And yet...

And yet. In Xander's conversations with Angel, the vampire had spoken more than once about his victims. The teenager was familiar with that guy's haunted look from remembering killing people with his own two hands, even if he hadn't exactly been in the driver's seat at the time. So if he did this, Xander instinctively knew he would be crossing a line he could never come back from. He knew there would be no difference between what his father had tried to do to him that night, and what he was about to do now. The only difference was that his mother wasn't here to stop him from becoming a monster. He had to do that all by himself.

All these things went through Xander's mind in less time than the blink of an eye. And then the pipe came down, like a hammer blow from Thor himself.

Just missing Old Xander's right ear. A brief shower of sparks igniting when metal kissed concrete.

Xander, aching and bruised after the battle, dropped the weapon and quickly ran up the stairs. Seeing that Cordelia and Harmony were still unconscious, he quickly dragged them into the relative safety of the Chess Club room and started to look for the others, especially Buffy.

He failed to succeed, though, as the Slayer had become a vampire in a cemetery that had somehow appeared directly across the street. Luckily Buffy still appeared to possess her soul and she, Willow, Jonathan and Giles quickly made their way to the hospital, to wake up Billy in order to banish the nightmare world.

It worked. And so in an instant, everything went back to normal. The future version of Xander disappeared, Cordelia's hair returned to its previous state, Buffy became human again, and Giles could understand words once more.

But somewhat tellingly, Xander's bruises didn't vanish, because that battle had been all too real.

As an aside, Xander later learned Dawn's nightmare was of Anthony Harris showing up at her school and chasing her down the corridor in order to finish what he'd started that night, and that Cassandra's involved total nudity in public. Luckily, those two and practically everyone else in town refused to believe afterwards that such things had ever taken place. It was pure and simple denial. For those people, it had just been a bad dream. Or a brief time of confusion. Or else an elaborate practical joke.

The Mayor's forces had their hands full spinning cover stories for a few uncertain incidents, but they were good at what they did and so by the next day, it had all been firmly repressed by the good citizens of Sunnydale.

Harmony Kendall, who had almost up-chucked upon finding herself within the domain of the Chess Club later that day, had to work hard to repress the memory of what had happened. Even Cordelia, who refused to think what Harmony kissing Xander might mean with regard to her own feelings, didn't want any part of that nightmare and firmly indulged in the town's denial syndrome.

* * *

**Folsom State Prison, Represa**

**The next day**

Xander sat in the visitor's area, staring through the thick glass window at his father. There were a lot of bad feelings associated with finally facing this man, but he'd somehow managed to put all that aside for now. The male teenager just silently picked up the connecting telephone to talk. Then Xander straightened up a little, determined to show no sign of weakness.

Anthony Harris, dressed in his orange prison uniform, briefly glanced at his son's injuries before he picked up the phone. "What the hell happened to you?"

Xander hadn't really expected a hello, but the lack of greeting still stung a little. He also didn't see the need to mention the cover story he had sold to David and Julia. He said, "I met someone yesterday. We, uh, we exchanged words. And as a result of that conversation, I realized that I had to talk to you."

"Why?" Anthony narrowed his eyes. And somewhat tellingly, there was no mention of his dead wife. "I mean you never call, you never write. Neither does your sister."

"That's because these days Dawn prefers to think that you don't exist. That she was the product of an immaculate conception or something. And I'm not sure if you know, but the Chase's are going to be adopting her soon, with my blessing. After what happened that night, Dawnie wants nothing to do with you or your name anymore."

( _Gold-digging little bitch obviously hasn't changed a bit._ ) "And you?" the prisoner asked his male offspring.

"Like I said to Mrs. Chase a while ago, I don't want to forget where I came from. But I realized something yesterday: I may be a Harris, but I'm not you. And I'll never be you. I just wanted to tell you that I'm sixteen years old, I have a chance for a decent life and I intend to keep my little sister safe from anyone that ever tries to hurt her. Even though that should have been your job."

"I remember when that guy David Chase came by here that one time," Anthony said reflectively, ignoring the slur against him. "You sure he'll never try for some teenage pussy one day when you're not around? That he's not trying to do Dawn right now, while you're here yapping away at me?"

"For your information, Dawn is outside the jail in my car right now, waiting for me along with Cassandra and Cordelia. And as for the other part...for over a year, I was afraid of something exactly along those lines. But then I finally realized Mr. Chase isn't like that," Xander replied calmly.

Anthony was getting frustrated with not being able to get a rise out of the damned punk. "You've got a good thing going then. So what's the plan, kid? You gonna marry into the Chase family one day? That older daughter of his, she was quite a piece of jailbait if I remember right. You could do a lot worse than her."

"And she could do a lot better than me," Xander said softly. "You know, Dad, I'm honestly not sure what I'm going to do about Cordy. See, I know damn well that I have more than friendly feelings for her, but at the same time I think of Cassandra as being like my little sister; almost the same way that Dawn is. So basically, it's complicated."

The prison convict laughed out loud, genuinely amused by the confession. "Sounds like it, yeah. Xander, good luck trying to figure out what to do. Hey, next time you come by I'm expecting to hear how all that works out for you. Especially if what's under the hood is even better than the chassis up top."

"I don't think I'll be back," Xander replied, ignoring the insulting remark towards Cordelia. "And when you get out, assuming you survive in here that long, I kinda doubt we'll have anything more to say to one another. So don't bother trying to look me or Dawn up."

The middle-aged man raised his eyebrows. "Well? Isn't this the point where you threaten to kill me one day? Especially after what I did to you."

The teenager just placed his phone back on the hook, ignoring the look on the inmate's face as he got up and headed for the door. There was nothing left to say, and besides it was a Saturday. Cordelia wanted to take him, Dawn and Cassandra back to the Chase stables and maybe ride her horse Keanu for a while. She'd been gifted with the palomino recently and wanted to try him out. While they were there, Cordy had said, maybe she and Cassandra could get someone to teach Dawn and Xander how to ride as well.

And in Xander's opinion, that surely beat hanging out with his father any day of the week.

TBC...


	11. Cloak of Invisibility

See Prologue for disclaimer and details. Greetings everyone, and welcome to the latest chapter of Childhood's End! Thanks as always to everyone who's sent feedback of all kind, it's truly appreciated (and pretty much makes your day as a writer). Okay, so we're moving along towards the end of season one, and the relationships between Xander and the people in his life are kinda complicated. Then again, it's the Buffy-verse and Xander Harris we're talking about, so we're planning to make things even _**more**_ complicated for him, as you'll see towards the end of the chapter! Hmm, is it evil to want a sixteen-year-old kid to be put into these sorts of situations? Read on, and tell us what you think...

* * *

**Part Ten: Cloak of Invisibility**

**Chase Manor, Sunnydale**

**May, 1997**

"Morning, you two," Julia Chase said as she walked into the kitchen. "Jean-Michel, what's for breakfast?"

"For Madam, there is freshly made French toast," the chef replied politely. "For her daughters, there is bacon and eggs on toast, just the way Mesdemoiselles like them."

Dawn and Cassandra giggled, truly the image of best friends forever, and something more. Miss Harris had been formally adopted into the Chase family by now, even though Xander hadn't.

Dawn had in fact badgered her big brother to become part of the team as well and change his last name, but he'd said no for all the reasons he'd previously listed to both his father and Mrs. Chase. The young man hadn't mentioned details regarding all that to Dawnie, of course; instead telling her it just wasn't something he needed. He was fine with simply maintaining the status quo.

"Have either of you seen Xander and Cordelia this morning?" Mrs. Chase suddenly asked, looking around.

"They left for school early today. Cordy's still on that huge 'I-gotta-be-elected-May-Queen' kick," Cassandra rolled her eyes.

"Well, stuff like that is important to her," Dawn shrugged.

"Sure, but she's really desperate about this one! I mean is it just me, or does Cordelia love titles way too much?" Cassandra shot back.

"That's enough, Cassandra," her mother said at once. "Believe me, when you get to that age you might feel differently about it all."

"Yeah, 'cause next year we're freshmen there at Sunnydale High, huh?" Dawn said. "Y'know, it's gonna be so weird attending the same school as Xander and Cordelia again after the past two years."

"Tell me about it. Especially when Big Brother goes into overprotectiveness mode, and scares off any boy even remotely interesting!" Cassandra sighed.

( _And thank God for that, to be honest. Ah, I'm glad I'm not young anymore. How they suffer so,_ ) Mrs. Chase thought to herself with a hidden smile.

* * *

**Sunnydale High, Sunnydale**

**The same time**

"For the last time, will you please not go near that weirdo Buffy Summers and her two geek pals?!"

Xander was walking along with Cordelia and Harmony in the school hall. The three teens were nearly at the library entrance as Harris asked the Chase girl tiredly, "Why?"

"Because for one thing, your association with them is hurting Cordy's chances to become May Queen!" the blonde second-in-command stated as if it was obvious.

At that moment, the Slayer came barging out of the library. She bumped into Miss Kendall and dropped her bag, spilling out its contents: a couple of stakes, a couple of crosses, a mace and other stuff. On cue Cordelia said, "Uhhh! Behold, the weirdness!"

Buffy looked up at her. "You're probably wondering what I'm doing with this stuff, right?"

Cordy glared at the girl who had once mistakenly tried to stake her at the Bronze. "Wow, I'm not!"

The Chosen One saw Xander was also present and said hurriedly, "Uh, it's for History class."

"Right, for show and tell or something isn't it?" Harris tried to support Buffy.

"Yeah! Mr. Giles has this, like, hobby of collecting stuff...which he lent me...for show and tell. I did mention it's for History class, right?" Buffy babbled.

Harmony looked disgusted. "You are always hanging with that creepy librarian in that creepy library. What's wrong with you?" she asked the Slayer.

"Nothing," Buffy replied, even if the retort sounded weak even to her own ears. She then picked up her stuff. "Xander, you're meeting us for lunch today, right?"

"Ye-" Harris started to say, when he caught both Cordelia and Harmony glaring at him. "Uh, I'll have to get back to you on that one, Buff. Something's come up and I might not be able to make it."

The Slayer wasn't stupid and could guess what was going on. She had once been the Spordelia of Hemery High, after all. The Chosen One just left with a sad look on her face.

Cordy watched the dark blonde girl leave. She disliked the Slayer on many levels. Firstly, Buffy was living proof that her skills in judging people were flawed. Second, ever since Buffy had evinced interest in Xander, she had automatically become competition to the rich girl. "I don't know why this school admits mentals like her!"

"She's not like that. I mean, do you even know the Buffster well enough to say that?" Xander demanded. He was getting annoyed with Cordelia about this sort of thing. Especially after he had defended her to Willow about what she was really like in private.

"Well, I know that she's freakishly strong. I mean I saw Buffy dangling some guy by the neck once, his feet weren't even touching the ground!" Harmony said.

Cordelia stared at her briefly, before focusing back on Xander. "Please. Do this for me? Stay away from her, Willow and Jonathan till after I'm elected May Queen." Xander opened his mouth when she instantly added, "Xander, don't make me beg you for this. Please."

A sigh. "Fine. Just give me a chance to explain it to Will first, somehow." His eyes narrowed. "And you're never going to accept the fact that Willow's my friend, are you? I mean, do you even care how much it really hurt when she refused to speak to me for all those months?"

Deciding not to talk to this guy about that particular redhead, or the annoying feeling that she was asking him to choose between them, Cordelia just stalked off to find her boyfriend Mitch. Harmony and Xander were then left alone together, as the Cordette glared at him.

"What is it now?" Xander demanded.

"You're a complete moron," Harmony replied in disgust, the blonde looking as if Harris was dog doody on the sidewalk or something.

"Okay, ya know what? That's it," Xander declared, finally pushed to the limit. "I'd really like to know, Harmony. Just _**what**_ is your problem with me? What the hell have I ever done to you, besides be Xander Harris?"

Miss Kendall intensified her glare. "Fine, here it is! You're still the same worthless waste of space you've been since kindergarten – except that now, because you live with Cordelia's family, I'm supposed to be nice to you."

"And that's what really grates your cheese?" Harris demanded hotly.

"No, or at least not entirely. There's also the fact that my best friend has fallen in love with someone as low as _**you**_ on the totem pole, and there's nothing I can do to snap her out of it!"

That gave Xander pause for a second, even as the insult registered in his subconscious mind. ( _Cordy's in love with me? No way! I mean, I figured there were definitely feelings after everything that's happened, but love? _) "Uh, but Cordy's with what's-his-name nowadays, Mitch Fargo..."

"So what? I mean, how many boyfriends has she gone through since last year? So many that I've lost count," Harmony snapped. "And that's because you don't have what it takes to step up and try to claim what Cordelia thinks is yours."

"Harmony..." Xander now felt like he was on uncertain ground, as he glanced around nervously to see if anyone was nearby.

"I mean for God's sake, you're like a piece of crap stuck on her shoe! What's up with you, Xander, really? You could have easily become one of the elite by now! All you had to do was take advantage of all your opportunities. Instead, you're still the same nerd you were at the start of freshman year-" Harmony looked stressed as she tried to get her point across.

"And you're still the same backstabbing airhead who made a play for me last month, remember?" Xander interrupted, sick of the diatribe already.

Harmony looked pale at the mention of that incident outside the Chess Club. "That. Never. Happened!" she hissed at once, fearfully looking around like Xander had just done.

"Oh, Xander..." Harris tried to imitate Harmony's high-pitched voice, staring off into space like an airheaded girl.

"Stop it!" the blonde tried not to yell.

"Take me, I'm yours-"

Harmony's fist crashing into his stomach was completely unexpected, and Xander bent over and wheezed. "Shut up! I mean it!" Miss Kendall snarled before she stormed off.

"Yeah, got that part," Xander croaked, as he straightened up and gingerly walked off away from the library entrance as well. ( _And my luck with women is obviously still holding firm._ )

He was more right than he knew. Too bad for Xander that his conversation with Harmony just now had been overheard by the invisible girl known as Marcie Ross.

* * *

**A drinking fountain, Sunnydale High balcony**

**A while later**

Marcie was a girl with a plan. And Miss Ross had not been idle since eavesdropping on those three particular teenagers.

In the boys' locker room Mitch had gotten himself attacked by the invisible femme, and ended up badly injured. Buffy, feeling majorly left out after hearing Jonathan and Willow reminiscing about the days before she'd arrived in town, had then investigated what had happened with Fargo after hearing him say that he'd been attacked by a lone baseball bat.

The Watcher had subsequently assigned his Slayer and her friends their various duties, including looking up the names of missing kids; in case this was the work of a poltergeist. It was a long shot, but then this was Sunnydale, and nothing could be taken for granted.

Harmony knew nothing about all that, though, as she approached Cordelia. "Hey, you weren't in fifth period. What happened?"

Miss Chase looked up. "I went to the hospital."

Harmony nodded, "Oh, right, Mitch. How is he? Will he be okay?"

Cordelia said, "Well, the doctor says he'll be fine. In fact, they're gonna send him home tomorrow. But...you should've seen him laying there, all black and blue. How's he gonna look in our Prom pictures? How am I ever gonna be able to show them to anyone?"

( _Geez, as if you two are actually gonna last that long anyway._ ) "Um, have you considered waiting a decent interval, and then dumping him for someone else in time for the dance?" Harmony asked tentatively.

Cordelia considered that. The idea wasn't totally unattractive, but still brought with it its own set of problems. "Like who?"

Xander showed up. "Hey, Cordelia. I talked to Willow-"

At that moment, Marcie struck again. Harmony jerked backward, and then tumbled down the stairs. Xander, Cordy and other students came running down after her; Principal Snyder, who'd seen it happen too, shoved some kids aside and then told one of them to get the school nurse.

Cordelia called out fearfully, "Harmony!"

Harmony complained, "Ow! Oh, my ankle! I think it's broken."

Buffy finally showed up. "What happened?"

Snyder said to Buffy vindictively, "Hey! Who's the principal around here?" He then asked Harmony, "What happened?"

Cordelia babbled, "She fell! She, she, we were standing at the top of the stairs and she just fell! All by herself!"

Harmony instantly denied it. "No way! I was pushed!"

Xander, who from his better angle on the balcony had indeed seen Harmony fall as if she had been pushed, heard laughter and footsteps going up the stairs. He followed the sound and, once at the top of the stairs, he saw a door close all by itself. Harris quickly went inside and found himself in the music room. "Hey. Is anybody in here?"

There was nothing but silence, and Xander failed to see the ceiling access hatch rise all by itself. "Man. This school is getting just too freaky for words," the young man muttered, backing out of the classroom.

He went to find Giles, because like it or not the Watcher was the big brain on campus with regard to the weird around here. Together with the Slayer and the Slayerettes, Xander figured out it wasn't a ghost that had pushed Harmony down the stairs, but rather a person; albeit one who couldn't be seen.

Willow and Jonathan subsequently figured out that between Mitch and Harmony, their invisible girl was targeting people close to Cordelia. But they waited till after Xander was gone to share that info with the rest of the group, realizing that Harris wouldn't like it if they tried to sideline him from what was going on, or try to put him in some sort of protective custody, or whatever.

The gang quickly decided to put Buffy on stakeout duty for him and Cordelia, which the Slayer did that night while the Chase girl was working on her May Queen dress. She could tell the five Cordettes were driving Xander mad, so Buffy wasn't in the least surprised when he finally exited the room steaming.

Elsewhere in the library at that moment, Giles walked to a glass-enclosed bookcase and absently noticed his own reflection. He turned away and was startled by Angel, who was standing almost right in front of him. The librarian looked back at the glass, but didn't see his companion there. So he said, "Of course. A vampire casts no reflection."

Angel reassured him, "Don't worry, I'm not here to hurt you."

Giles nodded, but the Watcher still couldn't help being nervous. "Buffy told me you, uh, you don't feed from humans anymore?"

Angel shrugged. "Not for a long while."

"Is that why you're here? To see her?" Rupert suddenly asked, remembering the last time at the Bronze when he'd seen this creature.

The soul-cursed vampire shook his head. "I was looking for Xander, actually, not Buffy. It's, uh...it's too hard for me to be around her."

Giles raised his eyebrows slightly. "Yes, I'd imagine so. A vampire in love with a Slayer. It's rather poetic, in a maudlin sort of way. Well, I'm afraid the boy's not here right now either. So is there, uh...anything else can I do for you?"

Angel considered the British man carefully. "I heard you've been researching the Master."

The Council's field operative shrugged minutely. "Yes, well. E-ever since that little nightmare episode last month, I've been trying to learn as much as I can about him. The day will come when Buffy will eventually face him, no doubt."

"Yeah. And something's already in motion, something big, but I don't know what. You've read all the Slayer lore there is, right?"

Giles looked hesitant for a moment. "I-I've studied all the extant volumes, of course. But the, uh, most salient books of Slayer prophecy have been lost. The Tiberius Manifesto, the Pergamum Codex-"

"The Codex?" Angel interrupted.

Giles clarified, "It's reputed to have contained the most complete prophecies about the Slayer's role in the end years. Unfortunately, the book was lost in the fifteenth century."

The former Angelus quickly disagreed, "Not lost, misplaced. I can get it."

Giles exhaled in astonishment. "That would be most helpful! Uh, m-my own volumes have...been rather useless of late. And given the fact that there's an invisible girl currently terrorizing the school, that's far more of an understatement than I'd like."

Angel briefly considered that problem. "Not really my area of expertise."

"Nor mine, I'm afraid. Uh, it's fascinating, though. By all accounts it's a, a, a wonderful power to possess."

Angel didn't look like he agreed with the Watcher's opinion at all. "Oh, I don't know. Looking in the mirror every day and seeing nothing there. It's an overrated pleasure." Then he did his standard vanishing trick as Giles blinked stupidly for a moment.

"Vampire speed, of course. I'll need to remember that."

* * *

**Sunnydale High parking lot, Sunnydale**

**A few minutes later**

As Cordelia approached her car, she saw that yummy piece of man-meat who Xander knew from somewhere, and her breathing quickened. It wasn't that she was completely shallow or fickle with her feelings regarding Harris, of course; but rather she couldn't let such a fine male specimen simply walk past without being charming and polite.

"Hi! How are you, um...?" To her horror, Cordy suddenly realized she wasn't sure what his name was. "Uh, Axel?"

"It's Angel," the vampire said shortly. "And you shouldn't be out alone after dark."

"What? Who are you, my father?" Miss Chase demanded, rather annoyed.

"It's dangerous for kids to be out alone at night in this town," Angel insisted. "Take my advice, stay at home or in public places from now on."

There is almost nothing worse you can say to a female teen Cordelia's age than call her a 'kid'. Her ire rising, the Chase girl opened her mouth for a scathing reply when she heard a familiar voice call out, "Cordelia, can we talk?"

( _Willow?_ ) The brunette suddenly started as she realized Angel had vanished. Then when Willow joined her, Cordy's attention focused on the red-haired girl. "What is it? I have to go home and catch up on my to-do list, you know."

"Yeah. Look, Xander talked to me today about this thing of avoiding me and my friends till after the May Queen election. And I just want you to know, I'm onto you."

"'Scuse me?" Cordy demanded.

Willow looked angrier than Miss Chase had ever seen her. Of course, that was because she knew nothing about how that little affair with Moloch had changed Miss Rosenberg's attitude about a lot of things, including her relationship to Xander. "I said, I'm onto you and your little scheme."

"What scheme?" Cordelia demanded in the same tone of voice.

"You're trying to separate us. You're, you're trying to cut me out of the picture, shake your boobs at him and make Xander think only about you! Even if you already have a boyfriend. Well, it's not gonna work!" Willow said heatedly.

Cordelia looked her up and down carefully. "Oh, now I see what this is all about. Well, I'm sorry Willow, but you lost your chance with Xander. Have you ever considered that maybe you never really had one to begin with?"

The smartest girl in school refused to acknowledge that. "I may have royally screwed up by being so upset with him when I learned about you two, but Xander said that's all in the past now, what happened between you guys. I still have a chance, and you know it!"

"Is that why you oh-so-subtly warned Buffy off of him?" Seeing Willow's expression, Cordelia's smirked. "Oh, please, who do you think you're dealing with? Of course I figured it out, I'm Cordelia Chase! And it's not exactly over between us."

"What?" Willow demanded in a horrified whisper.

"Let's just say we still have feelings for one another. I don't know what's holding the guy back, but I do know Xander thinks about me in a way he doesn't think about you. And I can afford to wait."

Cordelia took a small hesitant step forward and dropped the hostility act. "Look, Willow, I really am sorry things didn't work out between you the way you wanted them to. You may not believe this, but I know how it feels to not get something you so desperately want. But Xander likes you. A lot. He even loves you, I'll bet, but not in a girlfriend-y way. You were his best friend, and he really misses that. But I think that's all it ever could be with you guys. If you're honest with yourself, I think deep down you know that too. So please cherish that and don't shut him out anymore. For Dawn's sake, if nothing else."

Cordelia's tone, her whole demeanor in fact, had become sympathetic and friendly, something Willow had never thought she was capable of. Her eyes widened as she realized Xander may have been right all along about the evil Queen of Sunnydale High.

Nevertheless the brunette's words cut just as deeply as if she had been the nasty bitch Willow always thought her to be, maybe even more so because her sincerity forced the redhead to really consider the awful truth of them.

Willow was in tears as she ran away, frustrating Cordelia as she got into her car. She easily anticipated Xander's reaction once he heard about this at school tomorrow and thought to herself, ( _Yeah, I better make with the explanations as soon as I get home. Make sure he gets both sides of the story if she goes flying off the handle at him._ )

* * *

**Sunnydale High quad, Sunnydale**

**The next day**

As Cordelia started making her acceptance speech after triumphantly being elected May Queen, Buffy noticed Willow and Xander off to the side talking. Well, maybe 'talking' was an overly polite way to put it; Harris was moving his lips, but the Rosenberg girl was just glaring at him with her mouth sealed in disapproval.

Just then, Jonathan joined the Chosen One. "Hey. Giles said you'd be here."

"Yeah, last night was a bust. But I still think you and Will were right, Cordelia's definitely the key to all this."

Jonathan brought out a collection of papers. "Here. This is the dead and missing persons list Giles had Willow compile."

"Cool." Buffy snatched the list and examined it. "Check this out. It's the most recent one, Marcie Ross. Disappeared, like, six months ago."

Levinson shrugged. "Never heard of her."

"Me neither. Hmmm. Her only activity was band. She played the flute," Buffy mused.

"So?"

"Well, last night I heard this flute, but I couldn't figure out where it was coming from. You know what, I think I'm gonna check this out a bit further. See you later?" Buffy folded up the list and gave it back to the Slayerette.

"Okay, see you after Geometry."

Buffy nodded and moved off, eventually checking out the empty music room. She finally noticed the hatch to the ceiling and made her way up there, looking around in surprise. She grabbed Marcie's yearbook from within the invisible girl's lair, and then retreated to Slayer Central to confab with her mentor.

"Giles, it was way creepy. It looked like she's been living there for months. And what sort of sane person would want to live at school?" Buffy asked.

"Oh my God," Watcher and Slayer heard Jonathan say. "You guys, look at this!"

Buffy looked at the words 'Have a nice summer' written in the back of the yearbook by all of the people who'd signed it. "This girl had no friends at all?"

"Uh, once again I teeter at the precipice of the generation gap," Giles interjected in confusion.

"'Have a nice summer' is what you write when you have nothing to say. It's like the kiss of death," Jonathan informed him. "And I should know, it's happened to me often enough."

"So, no one noticed her, and now she's invisible," the Chosen One ruminated.

"Marcie turned invisible just because no one noticed her?" Levinson asked in disbelief.

"Of course!" Giles shouted. "I've been investigating the mystical causes of invisibility when I, I should have looked at the quantum mechanical." Off both their looks he went on, "Physics. It's a rudimentary concept that, that reality is shaped, even, even...created by our perception. People perceived Marcie as, as, as invisible, and, and, and, and thus she became so, thanks to the Hellmouth."

Jonathan shook his head. "So now what do we do?"

"Find her," Buffy said at once.

If only it was that simple. Not far away, Xander was about to go into serious mope mode after the 'conversation' with Willow – when he got hit on the head from behind with Mitch's baseball bat. Knocked out cold, Marcie quickly dragged Harris away in preparation for the big event later tonight.

* * *

**Sunnydale High school corridor, Sunnydale**

**A short while later**

Cordelia took a deep breath, really not wanting to go through with this. But recent events had permanently disabled her ability to repress, and there was no one else she could think of who could help her in this situation.

So she strode into Slayer Central, and saw the Slayer alongside the librarian. Willow and Jonathan were also present, but she ignored them. "Yeah, I knew you'd be here. Buffy, I, uh, I, I know we've had our differences in the past, with you being so weird and all, and constantly hanging out with these two social rejects..."

Willow and Jonathan looked like they couldn't believe she'd just said that right in front of them, but Miss Popularity continued on, "Well, anyway, despite all of that, I know that you share this feeling that we have for each other, deep down."

"Nausea?" Willow interjected cattily. She was still upset and hurt over how Cordelia had forced her to re-examine her relationship with Xander.

Cordy suddenly lost it and babbled, "Somebody's after me! They just tried to kill Ms. Miller. Uh, she was helping me with my homework. And what happened to Mitch? And Harmony?! This is all about me! Me, me, me!"

Buffy just looked at her. "So you came to _**me**_ for help?"

Cordelia nodded. "Because you're always around when the weird stuff is happening. And I know you're very strong, and you've got all those weapons...I was kind of hoping you were in a gang?" She saw Buffy's expression and instantly said, "Come on, I don't have anyone else to turn to. And Daddy's money isn't something that can fix this!"

Giles got up and offered her a chair. "Please. Sit down."

Cordelia accepted the offer graciously, "Okay. Thanks."

The Watcher then mused, "You know, I...I don't recall ever seeing you here before."

Miss Chase nodded. "Yeah, you bet. Because I have a life."

Buffy exhaled in despair and began to explain about who Marcie was and how she seemed to be targeting the people closest to Cordelia. The brunette interrupted, "I don't care who she is, or why she's doing it! Just make the problem go away."

"It's not that simple. I mean Marcie's human, not a vampire or a demon," Jonathan said tentatively.

"A what or a what?" Cordy demanded in disbelief.

"Xander didn't tell you about that yet?" Willow asked crossly. Then her eyes went wide, "Hey, has anyone seen him lately?"

People looked around and shook their heads. Giles was the first to say it, "We must assume the worst, that he's become another victim of our invisible adversary. Buffy, you go look for him; the rest of us must find a way to restore this girl back to what she was, c-cure her of that damned invisibility."

"You people are crazy," Cordelia said assertively. "But if Xander's in trouble, I'm not just gonna sit on the sidelines..." She then checked her watch. "Oh! We better hurry. The May Queen coronation tonight at the Bronze, I can't afford to miss it!"

"Priorities, anyone?" Willow muttered angrily.

"Well? Let's go!" Cordy said roughly, ignoring that as she started pulling Buffy along. Once outside she asked the Chosen One, "Okay, which way?"

"Let's try the music room..." And as the two girls hurried, Buffy decided to offer some comforting words. "Don't worry, I'm sure we'll find him soon-"

"Will you knock it off? We're not friends, so quit it with the phoney reassurances," Tact Girl said hotly.

Buffy could sense something else in the cheerleader's tone, though. "You're still pissed about that night at the Bronze when I almost hit you with that stake, aren't you?"

"No, actually it's more to do with the fact that I know Xander still has a thing for you, and that one day you might decide to take him for a ride. Just like you did with Owen Thurman," Cordy snapped back.

The Slayer had a flashback both to that and her hyena possession. "Yeah, well, all things considered, I don't think that's gonna be a problem. As far as I'm concerned, these days Xander makes for a better friend than he does a potential boyfriend," she replied. ( _And amen to that. No way can he possibly compete with Angel!_ )

Miss Chase would have stated her opinion on the matter, but they arrived at the music room at that moment and went inside. Unfortunately, not seeing their invisible assailant, both female teens ended up unconscious almost immediately; Marcie sending them into the realms of oblivion just like she'd done with Xander.

* * *

**The Bronze, Sunnydale**

**Later that night**

"Xander? Xander! Wake up!"

Slowly and groggily, the young man entered the world of consciousness. ( _Cordy?_ ) he thought to himself in confusion. ( _Oh my God. A-are we in bed together?_ )

The next instant disabused him of that notion, though. Xander discovered himself strapped to a throne of all things, with Cordelia strapped to her own throne right next to him. And whilst under other circumstances the concept of him being crowned May King alongside Queen C might have been amusing, at the moment Harris saw nothing funny about the situation. "What's going on?"

"Thank God," Cordelia muttered before she said, "Xander, I can't feel my face!"

"What?"

"My face, it's like completely numb. I can barely get my mouth to work!"

Squelching a comment about clouds and silver linings, Xander struggled with his ropes. "Okay, uh, don't panic-"

"It's a little late for that, ya know!" Cordelia snapped. "That psycho Marcie Ross has kidnapped us!"

"Who?" Xander asked. To his knowledge, this was the first time he'd ever heard that name.

"You don't remember me? Oh, I'm hurt. And to think you wrote 'have a nice summer' in my yearbook last year," Marcie's sarcasm-rich voice was heard on the Bronze stage.

Xander put it all together and quickly figured out Marcie Ross was the invisible girl's name. "Uh, Marcie? Look, if you'll just untie us, I'm sure we can work this out – find some way to help you become visible again, okay?"

Miss Ross laughed out loud. "What kind of idiot do you take me for? It's too late for that now. You know Xander, you may not remember me, but I remember you. Two years ago, you hated this pathetic slut even worse than I did. And then what do you do? You become her lapdog. You let her 'domesticate' you! Look at what you've been reduced to nowadays, blowing off and insulting your friends just because she asked for it."

"Y'know, I take it all back. I felt sorry for you, but now I realize there's something I didn't take into consideration. Which is the fact that you're a complete bitch!" Xander snapped out.

Marcie immediately punched him hard in the face. "Thank you. This is gonna be _**so**_ much more pleasant than I'd anticipated!"

"What, what are you planning to do?" Miss Chase asked nervously.

Marcie didn't answer her. Instead, a tray of surgical instruments wheeled itself over to the bound duo. Then the Ross girl said, "I bet you enjoyed playing doctor with this guy, didn't you Cordelia? It gave you a thrill to make him want you, to make Xander salivate at the prospect of having you. Probably the lure of forbidden fruit, am I right? Well, let's find out just how tempting he is with his face sliced off, shall we?"

"Don't you dare, you invisible psycho!" Cordelia screamed at once.

"Oh, what is this? Cordelia Chase actually cares about someone other than herself?" Marcie mocked. "Don't worry, you're next after I'm done with your secret boyfriend here."

"She cares about her parents, and about Cassandra and Dawn. See, they're her sisters. Did you even know about them?" Xander asked. "Because one day, eventually, you're gonna have to face her family in court if you do this. You taken that part of it into consideration, Marcie? I kinda doubt it."

Marcie lifted a scalpel from the tray and swung it at Xander's chest. The sharp knife sliced cleanly through his clothes, and Harris grunted as the scalpel opened a shallow red line along his sternum. "Uggggh!"

"Hurts, doesn't it?" Marcie asked snidely. "Well, I better not dawdle with you. The anaesthetic I injected into Cordelia's face will wear off soon, and I don't want her to faint on me after I get started on her. It'd be a lot less fun if she's unconscious!"

The scalpel came up and headed directly from Xander's cheek when the side door opened and Angel came charging in. "You! Drop the knife, _**now**_!"

Marcie swung the scalpel around; but moving at inhuman speed, the vampire kicked it out of her hands. "You bastard!" she screamed. At once, the invisible girl began to attack him.

Fortunately, unlike a human, Angel could depend on more than just eyesight to battle against an enemy. The vampire could hear Marcie's heartbeat, along with Xander's and Cordelia's, and he was able to smell her as well. Thus, the battle proceeded on more-or-less equal terms until Cordelia started screaming her lungs out at the sight of Angel's game face.

"Cordy, SHUT UP!" Xander knew she was only distracting their best hope to survive.

"Okay," Miss Chase said in a moment of uncharacteristic meekness.

Finally, when he managed to get a red banner wrapped around Marcie, Angel got the upper hand and knocked her down. But at that moment, two men with drawn guns charged into the room. "FBI! Nobody move!"

Angel stopped moving at once, his eyes narrowing as he took in the newcomers. "Who are you?"

"I'm Agent Doyle, and this is Agent Manetti," one of the men said to Angel as the other headed for Marcie. "Just stay calm, sir. We're here for the girl."

"Where were you ten minutes ago when we needed you?" Xander demanded, feeling a little light-headed from the blood loss by now.

"I'm sorry. We came as fast as we could," Doyle said, as Manetti quickly handcuffed Marcie and started to drag her away. "We'll be on our way now. And in the interests of national security, it would be best for all of you to just forget about this whole incident," the man finished up.

Angel had heard enough. And he had also noticed how these so-called G-men hadn't even bothered releasing the hostages. ( _If those two are really FBI, then I'm the Queen of England!_ ) But he could smell the attractive scent of Xander's blood even from here, and the vamp knew that getting the mortal boy to medical care had to be the priority. ( _Harris, I really hope this is all gonna be worth it someday. Because you keep getting into far too much trouble for a kid your age! _) Thus Angel made no move to stop Doyle and Manetti leaving with Marcie, and instead went to untie both teens.

Cordy looked at her watch. "Oh my God, the coronation! It's gonna start in a few minutes." She looked down at herself and shivered; Marcie had deliberately put her into the May Queen dress for the occasion, which seriously grossed Cordelia out.

Angel nodded. "I'll take Xander out of here, get him patched up. You stay and cover our exit, just in case."

"Uh..." Cordelia looked for a moment as if she wanted to protest. But then she realized Angel would probably be a better choice than her for this sort of thing. Besides, there was no way she wanted to risk getting blood on her dress just before her big moment. ( _There is not enough yuck in this world!_ ) So the brunette simply watched as the two males left by the side door, just as Snyder and the rest of the school committee arrived through the front and greeted the Queen-elect.

* * *

**Chase Manor, Sunnydale**

**The next day**

Xander winced, as he somehow stopped himself from scratching the itch on his chest from the damned scalpel wound.

After he and Angel had arrived back at the library the previous night, he'd learned that Buffy was all right after being knocked out at the same time Cordelia was. The others were a bit worse for wear after almost being gassed to death, but luckily the Slayer had discovered the locked door and let them all out before Willow, Jonathan and Giles had died.

In any case, Xander's wound had been taken care of just before Dawn and Cassandra arrived, looking for him. For the sake of appearances he'd let the girls take him back to the Bronze. Even if Cordelia had looked slightly flushed and nervous, the night had ended without further mishap. Which was of the good, as explaining away the semi-constant injuries to David and Julia Chase was putting a strain on even their blindness to reality.

"Are you okay?"

Harris turned around, and saw the May Queen had entered his bedroom looking rather worried. "Yeah, fine," he grunted. "Well, mostly."

"Lemme see..."

A rather awkward exam then took place. "Satisfied?" Xander then demanded irritably.

"Yeah. Uh, just so you know, I broke up with Mitch today," the female teenager said distantly.

"Really? Why?"

"He – and you – almost got killed because of me," Cordelia whispered, her expression growing more distant and frightened.

"Uh, yeah. Well, no big deal as far as I'm concerned. Wasn't the first time I've almost been killed during the past year or so. Wasn't even the second," Xander sighed. "So, I spoke to the gang last night. You know all about the demons and vampires now, right?" He'd noticed that she was wearing his old birthday present crucifix.

For a moment the cheerleader looked ready to deny it. Then her shoulders slumped as she remembered Angel's real face and said, "Yeah. I guess."

Harris could tell Cordy wasn't having an easy time of it. "Wish there was some way for me to make it easier for you," Xander admitted. "But I'm afraid there isn't."

"Okay, but here's the thing: I don't _**want**_ to know about all this!" Cordelia almost shouted. "For God's sake, things like that shouldn't even exist! It's just too...and I almost lost you to that lunatic last night..." Making a decision, the young woman put her arms around Xander's neck and started kissing him fiercely.

"Cordy, don't. This isn't-" Xander started to say as their lips briefly parted.

"No. Whatever it is, whatever the reason or excuse or logic, I don't want to hear it because I don't care anymore. Damn it, Xander, if there's one thing I learned from that crazy skank last night, it's that life is way too short for all that crap. And haven't we waited long enough?" she demanded.

Xander looked into her eyes and saw the need there, as well as the passion and desire, and more importantly maybe even love. ( _Oh, boy._ ) His own conflicted feelings gnawing at him, eventually the young man didn't resist when she started making out with him again.

There was a polite cough at the door.

"So I take it you two aren't just 'friends' anymore?" Julia Chase asked, as the wide-eyed Cassandra and Dawn stared with their mouths hanging open in disbelief.

TBC...


	12. Facing The Music

See Prologue for disclaimer and details. Hello, everyone, and welcome to the latest chapter! Sorry it's come a bit later than what we were planning, but things got a bit out of hand and then we couldn't log into the site, and, well, suffice it to say better late than never! Just wanted to say thanks again to everyone who's sent reviews and PMs about the story, and now we present to you...

* * *

**Part Eleven: Facing The Music**

**Chase Manor, Sunnydale**

**May, 1997**

"You just found them doing _**what**_?!"

Julia Chase was glad that she had chosen the library to break the news to her husband; otherwise everyone in the house would have heard him scream like that. "Please calm down, dear."

"Calm down? CALM DOWN? You're kidding, right? I mean, you just come in here and tell me that Cordelia and Alexander are kissing in his bedroom, and you expect me to be _**calm**_ about it?" David Chase looked like he was about to burst a blood vessel. Hanging Xander from the highest yardarm was also something featuring vividly in his mind.

"For heaven's sake, David. Don't yell like that! It's not going to solve anything," Mrs. Chase said in annoyance.

Mr. Chase made a visible attempt to regain his equilibrium. He barked out, "I want to speak to that boy, right the hell now!"

"Yes, I know. But you need to calm down first," Julia said firmly, and she sat down on the armrest next to her better half. "And you know I'm right, sweetheart. Otherwise, you might just say and do something that you'll later regret."

The millionaire inhaled, knowing that his wife was right. He'd just been thrown one hell of a curve ball, and he needed all of his faculties at his disposal to try and deal with this revelation. Slowly David said, "Julia. Everything I've been working for over the last two years is at risk now! The local party leaders have told me that I'm a sure thing for the November elections. Hell, even the Mayor has given me his endorsement. But if this comes out – oh God, how can I get elected if my sixteen-year-old daughter is pregnant by the boy who's practically her step-brother?"

"Cordelia isn't having a baby, dear," Julia shook her head in annoyance at the paternal overreaction. "She swore to me that she's still a virgin. Even if the silly young thing was planning otherwise, during her birthday."

"WHAT? You mean, she and Alexander...this has been going on for _**that**_ long?" Mr. Chase demanded. ( _What, have I been completely blind in my own house for all that time?_ )

"Not exactly. But I knew that something was going on between them, even then. A mother knows these things," Mrs. Chase smirked for barely a fraction of a second.

"Unbelievable. Why didn't you mention anything to me about it?" Mr. Chase demanded.

"Because I knew exactly how you'd react, dear. Besides, it's not like I had any proof. And if you'd started accusing Alexander of something like that back then, what do you think the odds are that he'd have run away and taken Dawn with him?" Julia asked softly.

David thought about it and repressed a shudder. Obviously, his wife was a lot smarter than he'd given her credit for. "You're right, damn it. Okay, okay. I know when I'm out of my league. So how do you suggest we deal with this?"

"Calmly and rationally, dear," Julia said, as she went over and opened the library door. "Cordelia, could you please come inside?"

David watched as his firstborn came in, defiance along with concern present on her face. His blood pressure soared again as he got up from the chair, "Well?"

"Well what, Daddy?" his little girl replied, raising her chin as the defiance factor automatically increased.

"What have you got to say for yourself?" her father growled.

Cordelia seemed to think about it for a moment. "I've done nothing to be ashamed of because I, I love Xander. I...I'm in love with him," she finally replied, a look of wonder briefly appearing on her face as the girl finally articulated the feeling.

David openly scoffed at the idea. "Cordelia, you're just a teenager, a high school student. You're not actually serious, are you? You're not old enough yet to even know what love is!"

Cordelia narrowed her eyes immediately. "Well I'm old enough to know that you and Mom love Cassandra more than me, aren't I?"

Julia leaned forward at once, as David gaped at that accusation. "Cordelia, that's not true!"

"Isn't it? Sorry Mom, but I'm not blind y'know. She's your favorite, and always has been. And I'm pretty sure all three of us in here know it," Cordelia said stonily.

Julia hesitated for just a moment too long. It was true that she and her husband thought that Cassandra was the nicer of their children, as they'd learned from the mistakes they'd made in spoiling their first daughter that way. But Mrs. Chase hadn't suspected that her offspring had thought herself so unwanted in her parents' eyes. "We love you both equally and we just want what's best for you, sweetheart-"

"So you think that Xander isn't what's best for me? That he's just someone you took in out of pity, he's unworthy trash that's not allowed to get close to a Chase?" the young woman cut her off.

"Of course not," "No," David and Julia said together.

"Then what's the problem here?" Cordy asked politely, wearing a victorious smile.

Mr. Chase tried to keep a tight hold on his temper. "Cordelia, Dawn is your sister now. And her brother is practically-"

"Don't say it! Dad, that's just..._**ick**_!"

"And yet, that doesn't stop it being true. Cordelia, your father and I have every right to be concerned about that part of it," Julia said.

"Well, don't be. Cassandra may think of Xander as a brother, but not me. Not once. Ever! Not even when we finally stopped hating each other," Queen C said firmly.

"And that's something else I wanted to know. Just how long has this thing between you two been going on?" David demanded.

Cordelia looked like she'd just sucked on a lemon. Reluctantly she said, "It's been over a year since we first kissed."

"How long?!" Both Mr. and Mrs. Chase looked shocked at hearing that one.

"March 12th, 1996. I'll never forget that Tuesday! And to think, Xander never even got me anything for our first anniversary a few months ago," the cheerleader stated angrily, with a dose of Cordelia logic.

David was suddenly unsure if all this was a nightmare. "And all this time, you two have been...?"

"Well, no. I mean, Xander said that what happened that day was just a, a fluke and the guy backed off at once. It was last summer in La Paz that we definitely became more than friends. But Xander broke it off again as soon as we all came home. He was terrified about how you two would react if you found out," Cordelia said sadly.

( _Very wise of him,_ ) Julia noted as she saw her husband's face go red yet again. "So what changed?"

"Everything." Cordelia was going to tell them all about the real world with demons and vampires, but suddenly decided against it. ( _It's like they don't need to hear about that stuff right now! _) "In a nutshell though. This girl, Buffy Summers? I blame her for it all."

David wasn't in the mood to hear some story about female competition over a boy whom he'd respected and liked, and after the last two years had almost begun to think of as his own son. "Get Alexander in here. I want to talk to him."

Julia obediently went over and called Xander in from where he was waiting outside. The male teen was simultaneously relieved and worried; relieved because the questions from Dawn and Cassandra would now end, but worried because the ones from David and Julia would begin in their place.

Cordelia rushed over and grabbed Xander's arm, melting into his side at once. "Hey."

"Cordy..." Xander muttered nervously, staring at her parents.

Mrs. Chase came up to the young couple after a glance from her husband. She said to her daughter, "Come on. Your father and Alexander need to talk privately."

"No! I'm not leaving him in here to face the firing squad all alone," Cordelia protested at once.

"Young lady, don't push your luck. Not anymore, not today. One more word out of you, and I'm cancelling all your credit cards!" her father growled.

Unfortunately, Mr. Chase's words were just like waving a red flag in front of an enraged bull. Because whatever else she was, Cordelia Chase was no one to ever accept being threatened that way. She opened her mouth, but luckily Xander slapped a hand over it before she could say anything. He turned her around and said, "Please, Cordy. It's okay. Trust me, all right?"

Fortunately for her, she couldn't resist those big chocolate-brown puppy dog eyes. So Miss Chase allowed herself to be led out by her mother. When Xander turned back to face her dad, he found the middle-aged man much closer than he'd expected.

"What have you been doing with my daughter?" Mr. Chase hissed in no uncertain terms.

Xander gulped. "Uh, I'm not sure what...could you be a bit more specific, sir?"

David wasn't amused. "Are you two sleeping together?"

"No, Mr. Chase," Xander replied at once.

The older man calmed down a lot after hearing that. He knew Xander well enough to believe the odds were that the boy wasn't a liar. "All right, I've heard Cordelia's version of events. Now let's hear yours, how did all this happen?"

Slowly, hesitantly, Xander began to tell his tale. He didn't mention anything about what had happened in his bedroom with Cordy last January, but everything else was free game. So Mr. Chase said at the end, "Are you honestly telling me that you and my little girl have never even gone beyond, ah...second base?"

"Yes, sir."

David exhaled in relief, visions of disastrous scandal finally receding from his mind. But suddenly there was one question he just had to ask. "Do you really care about Cordelia?"

"Yes sir, I do. Cordy, Dawn and Cassandra mean the whole world to me," was Xander's response.

"No, I didn't mean like that. Look, you're still just children, even though Cordelia thinks she's in love with you. But, do you feel the same way about her that she does about you?"

Xander squirmed a bit. "I don't know, sir. I mean, I-I used to hate her. But now I really like her. Well, most of the time. I, I care about Cordy a lot, and I don't want to hurt her. And I..."

"What?" Mr. Chase demanded when Xander trailed off.

"I...I want for us to be together." The teenager looked like he'd just had an epiphany, and was honestly astounded at hearing his own conclusions.

The husband and father didn't look happy about that. He called in both Julia and Cordelia, and said roughly to both teens, "All right, now you two listen to me very carefully. This thing between you, I want it to end right now!"

"Daddy!" Cordelia exclaimed at once. "That's not fair! And I won't do it."

"You'll do it, young lady, or else," David blustered.

"Does that mean you want me to pack my things and get out of your house, sir?" Xander asked quietly, his eyes full of pain. This had been his one of his greatest fears right from the start.

"No, of course not!" Julia said at once, with a warning look towards Mr. Chase. "Alexander, you're part of this family. And you always will be, now that your sister's our daughter just as much as Cordelia and Cassandra." The blonde woman added, "Seriously, I mean it. The idea of you leaving us never even crossed our minds."

David nodded, that was true enough. Kicking Xander out was impossible at this point, not after he and his wife had adopted Dawn. Not only would his newest daughter be forever pissed at him, the possible voter backlash over that kind of family scandal was far too much of a risk to contemplate that avenue of action. "Absolutely, Alexander. That wasn't what I had in mind at all."

"Then what? I should just pretend that I don't feel the way I feel about Xander? Sorry, Daddy, but I don't think that's gonna work. We live in the same house, we go to the same school, we see each other every day. Unless you put us under twenty-four hour surveillance or whatever, you can't split us up that way," Cordelia said angrily.

Mr. Chase again tried to keep his temper. "Then what do you suggest?"

"Would it make it any easier if I offered to move out to the pool house, sir? If that's what you and Mrs. Chase want, I can live with that," Xander said uncertainly. He didn't like it, as if a vampire should ever get into the main house he wouldn't be there to kill it, but if there was no other choice...

"No way! Xander, you can't be serious. You're not going to live in, like, the servants' quarters! You're practically a Chase now, how would that look to everyone?" Cordy said in exasperation.

"I agree. That simply wouldn't be right. And we'd never hear the end of it from Dawn and Cassandra," Mrs. Chase sighed.

"Then what?" Xander asked.

Mr. Chase massaged his temples, feeling an oncoming migraine. "I want you to promise me something, Alexander. And that is, from this point on you and Cordelia are on your best behavior. I want your word that no matter what happens behind closed doors, the public sees only a pair of happy, well-adjusted teenagers. Agreed?"

"Yes, sir!" Xander said promptly.

Chase went on. "And another thing. There will be no secret midnight rendezvous while you two kids are living here together, understand? In eighteen months, I plan to be in Washington as a duly-elected member of Congress. Good, traditional family values are a major part of my platform and I cannot afford to have a sex scandal or illegitimate grandchild, thanks to you two getting up to any sort of shenanigans. It will not happen. Is that understood?"

( _Yeah, as if I'm gonna be stupid enough to let anything like __**that**__ happen._ ) Cordelia said out loud though, "So, Dad. What happens after I turn eighteen years old and I can do whatever the hell I want?"

Xander cringed at the sight of Mr. Chase's facial expression, the head of the household looked as if someone was pulling his teeth out without the aid of anaesthetic. Finally David said in a strangled voice, "If...and I _**do**_ mean if...you two still feel this way in about two years, then we'll discuss options at that time. But for now, both of you go to your rooms. And since I'm sure Dawn and Cassandra are currently listening at the door, tell them to stay behind. Julia and I will want to speak to them next."

Both Xander and Cordy promptly filed out and Mr. Chase collapsed back into his personal chair. "Christ almighty, how did we get here?" the man asked his wife wearily.

"That's life, I'm afraid. But if life hands you lemons, just make lemonade. You taught me that, dear," Mrs. Chase said with a small shrug. "Well, you did the right thing in not forbidding them outright to be together; otherwise, I'm sure Cordelia would have soon done something completely stupid. And who knows, maybe this was inevitable right from the start. The way they used to fight all the time..."

David suddenly looked as if he'd remembered something. "Two years ago, when we decided to take in Dawn and her brother. You said it wouldn't surprise you if Alexander and Cordelia started dating one day...oh my God, Julia, if there was ever a time I wish you'd been wrong!"

Mrs. Chase remembered that day as well. "Oh yes, I did say that, didn't I? How very prescient of me. Now come on, David, cheer up. Look at it this way; our little girl could actually end up marrying that boy one day. After all, we've seen for ourselves how he's a decent young man, today's shocks notwithstanding. Cordelia could do a lot worse than him."

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Mr. Chase now looked as if he was experiencing an ulcer. "Dear Lord, I haven't felt this stressed since the company nearly went under ten years ago. And thank God I didn't let my accountant pull that tax dodge, or else my political career would have been over before it even began!"

"As you say, dear. I'll go get Dawn and Cassandra." Julia headed for the door.

"Right. Oh, after that gather all the hired help together as well. I'm sure they'll eventually find out about this, so I want 'em to know from the start if any of them breathe a word to anyone outside this house, they'll all be fired at once. No excuses, and no exceptions."

* * *

**Chase Manor garage, Sunnydale**

**A while later**

"Oh my God! This is so huge. I mean, did you have any idea my sister and your brother had gotten...y'know, snugly?"

"None at all! I swear, it just blows my mind. And hey, no _**wonder**_ Xander didn't want to be adopted! Yeah, it all makes so much sense now..."

Cassandra and Dawn continued chatting away, not noticing Harris approach them. He had been enlisted to do so by Julia, after she had failed to find the two girls. "So, you think this is serious between them?" Cassandra asked.

"Oh, sure. I mean, as if Xander has a lot of girls interested in him!" Dawn snorted.

( _Thank you for that, Dawnie. Way to boost the old ego!_ ) Xander thought in annoyance. Then he heard Cassandra say doubtfully, "Didn't you say there was someone else once, though? I'm pretty sure, anyway."

Dawn frowned, before a look of comprehension came to her. "Oh, you mean Buffy Summers? Yeah, one time at the mall Xander and I bumped into her and her mom. And Mrs. Summers was a pretty nice lady. But he hasn't ever mentioned anything about Buffy since then, so I'm pretty sure she's out of the picture by now."

"You mean, like we knew Cordelia was _**in**_ the picture?" Cassandra sounded cynical.

"Good point."

"As a matter of fact, Buffy has a boyfriend who's not me."

The two girls yelped in surprise, as they shot up off the floor of the secluded garage corner. Both brunettes turned to stare and Dawn said, "Xander! What are you doing here?"

"Eavesdropping on a pair of gossipping little girls. You two oughta start a sewing circle or something," Harris said sarcastically.

"Hey!" the two chorused.

"Spare me. Mr. and Mrs. Chase want to see you both, so let's go," Xander ordered.

Sullenly, the female duo obeyed his commands. "So, are you and Cordy boinking nowadays?" Cassandra suddenly asked.

Xander stopped dead, as did the other two. "Please don't ask that ever again, Cassie. It's not even remotely funny!"

"It's just a polite question. I mean, the way we saw you with your shirt off and your tongue in her mouth earlier," Dawn said sweetly.

Silently, the youth counted to ten. And if he was Giles, no doubt he would have started polishing a pair of glasses at that moment. "I am not having sex with Cordelia. Satisfied?"

"But you want to, right?" Dawn kept probing.

"Are you guys gonna get married when you're old enough?" That was Cassandra.

"Oh! I call chief bridesmaid!" Miss Harris-Chase instantly exclaimed.

"Hey! I was the one who first mentioned it, and she's my sister!"

"She's my sister now too!"

"Yeah, but still. I'm older!"

"Well, I'm prettier!"

"You are not! Xander, tell her," Cassandra fumed.

Harris was just shaking his head in disbelief at the female antics. "You two, leave me the hell out of this girl-talk wedding insanity. And just for the record, hey; does it look to either of you like I'm thinking even remotely that far ahead?"

"Xander, please. Don't you know anything? What does it matter what the guy thinks, if Cordelia wants you to marry her then it's gonna happen. And there's nothing you can do about it!" Cassandra said pityingly.

Dawn nodded, the minor quarrel with her best friend already forgotten in the name of female solidarity. "Absolutely." She turned to Cassandra, "He is so innocent, isn't he?"

"Completely naïve. Cordelia really has her work cut out for her," Cassandra shook her head.

"Well, that's her problem and not ours. We're going to have our hands full organizing everything, especially..." Dawn trailed off and turned to her brother. "Oh! What about the bachelor party. Who's going to be your best man? That Angel guy I met once?"

Xander groaned, briefly wondering if this was how Mr. Chase had felt less than half an hour ago. "Dawn, Cassandra, listen to me very carefully. There is no best man. There is no bachelor party. And there is definitely no wedding! Understand? Now get your asses in gear, pronto!"

Again reluctantly, the two girls began to follow him to the library. "We so need to talk to Cordelia about this," Dawn said sotto voce.

"Absolutely. It's gotta be like completely embarrassing for her, getting caught out like that. I'm thinking, a week's worth of kissy noises?" the fourteen-year-old said in reply.

"No way, two at least!"

Xander again stifled a groan, wondering if maybe he'd have been better off just letting Mr. Chase shoot him instead.

* * *

**City Hall, Sunnydale**

**A few days later**

Mayor Richard Wilkins the Third (and the First, and the Second) sat at his desk that night, going through various reports. He had eyes and ears everywhere, as the last hundred years had allowed him a lot of opportunities to set up contacts in the town he'd created.

One such report concerned the activities of David Chase and his plans to become Mr. Elected Representative. Richard wasn't really too concerned about that. After some thought, he had even decided to back that particular horse. He had been well aware of the other man's ambitions, and decided that putting Mr. Chase's nose in Washington was the best way to ensure it stayed out of local politics.

But basically, he didn't care as long as he was left alone for another two years. Then his Ascension would finally be at hand, and his Honor the Mayor could cease to care about the little things.

No, what Wilkins was truly concerned about right now involved the Slayer and that so-called Master, Heinrich Joseph Nest. According to the Manifesto, the old buzzard was prophesised to kill that particular little girl and finally escape from his underground prison, and so the Mayor had arranged for Miss Summers to come here to his domain and die for the cause. Once Nest was loose, Richard knew he'd be able to get rid of the undead pest and put an end to that particular threat to his plans.

But the Codex was now apparently in the hands of the Slayer's Watcher, according to tonight's report from an informed source. And while everything in that book was supposed to inevitably come to pass, the Mayor had been around long enough to know that prophecies didn't tell you everything. Nothing was ever truly certain; that annoying thing about human free will meant that the British man might do something that would be a detriment to Wilkins's plans.

( _Well, golly. Guess we'll just have to cross that particular bridge when we come to it, won't we?_ ) Richard smiled to himself, as he leaned back in his chair.

It was too bad for the Mayor that he couldn't detect Robe Boy standing right there in his office and staring at him, after the mage had breached the wards protecting City Hall with almost effortless ease. It was likewise too bad for Wilkins that this servant of a higher power (the same power who, by this point, had eliminated the one who would have called herself 'Jasmine') had no intention of letting the politician live long enough to achieve Ascension, roughly two years from now.

( _Soon,_ ) Robe Boy thought to himself, greatly disliking the soulless human seated before him on a personal level. But Wilkins still had a role to play in taking care of the Master, and so he couldn't be exterminated just yet. Once that was done, though, Mayor Tricky Dick would definitely have to go – before the guardian of the Key eventually killed off the human vessel containing Glorificus, in another city some years hence.

( _One thing at a time, though,_ ) Robe Boy thought to himself, before he vanished out of City Hall. ( _That trapped vampire needs to be eliminated, first and foremost._ )

To Be Concluded...


	13. Don't Believe Everything You're Foretold

See Prologue for disclaimer and details. Hello, everyone, and welcome to the final chapter of the story! It's been a fun month or so, but now it's time to wrap this one up and move on to other projects. Funnily enough, we initially had plans to take this story further (hey, season 2 would have ended up a _**lot **_different, especially with regards to Spike and Drusilla) but that'll have to be handled in the sequel, if we ever get around to writing it. Anyway, we just wanted to thank our beta readers once again, kudos to Francis Eugene, Greywizard and Ironbear; you guys rock! And we also wanted to thanks everyone who's reviewed and sent feedback for this story:

Wonderbee31, sh8ad8ow, jayods, Yusuke Urameshi - Mazoku, Mr Silver Gold, Quathis, Chi Vayne, WinterRain36, Alkeni, red-jacobson, Guest, Maximus Prime, Reader, highlander348, Sblck, BrightStar Kenobi, So you want to be an Author, Mojtaba13, ronin504, DarkStrider, Megan Grace, DanielRZ19, Shae Vizla, lordamnesia, studyofchaos, trongod, mobulis, uo-chou, Mechconstrictor, spidermonkey92k, paranoidbychoice, Axil 2.0, David Archerfish and anyone else we've missed.

So, thanks again, and please enjoy the final chapter entitled...

* * *

**Part Twelve: Don't Believe Everything You're Foretold**

**Chase Manor, Sunnydale**

**Late May, 1997**

David Chase was feeling rather concerned about the distinguished guests coming to his house tonight.

It had all started after his political advisor had telephoned the millionaire whilst he and his family were having dinner. On the phone, the Republican had sounded like he was almost in a frenzy of excitement, informing Mr. Chase that three VIPs would be paying the mansion a visit this evening. So he'd told Cordelia's father to cancel any and all of his plans and prepare to receive them.

When the time came, Martin the butler showed Mr. Chase's guests to the library. David's pulse began to quicken as he recognized Michael Schroeder, Tom McClintock, and John Jordan. They were indeed three very important people, just as his advisor had said.

"Good evening, gentlemen, and welcome. Can I offer you anything to drink?" David asked politely.

"Maybe later," Schroeder, state party chairman, said. Then he added, "Let's get down to business first. You're probably wondering why we're here, right?"

Mr. Chase shrugged, playing it cool. "The question did cross my mind."

Jordan glanced at McClintock. "I like him already."

"You would," the other man replied.

"As I was saying," Schroeder glanced warningly to the other two. "Let's get down to business."

The 'getting to know you' meeting then began between Chase and the top brass in the state party organization. The conversation delved into many contemporary political issues, like the upcoming governorship contest between Davis and Lungren, until there was a knock at the door. "David?"

"Julia, we're a bit busy right now!" the man said to his wife in exasperation.

"I know, dear. But the girls wanted to say good night before they go to bed."

Startled, Mr. Chase glanced at his watch and saw it was indeed later than he'd thought it was. "Fine, come in..."

At once Julia, Dawn and Cassandra came inside. "G'night, Dad," the two brunette teens said in unison, receiving a kiss and a hug from the middle-aged man. Julia could tell something important was going on, so the three women quickly exited the room.

"We should probably get going as well," Jordan said, looking at his watch. "So those were your kids, hmm?"

"Dawn and Cassandra, my two youngest," Mr. Chase said proudly.

"Very photogenic, should be an asset during your election campaign," Schroeder commented pragmatically.

McClintock suddenly looked as if he'd remembered something. "One of them's adopted though, right? I remember something in the party rag last year, you and your wife took in two charity cases back in '95?"

"Dawn and her older brother, Alexander," David said somewhat stiffly, disliking that particular description. "Julia and I adopted Dawn, though, you're right about that. And my other daughter's name is Cordelia, she's the oldest of the four."

"Then we'll definitely want to meet her and the boy as well at some point. Are they here tonight by any chance?" Jordan asked.

"No, I'm afraid not," Mr. Chase said regretfully. "I gather Cordelia's working on her Prom dress, and Alexander's out socializing with his friends somewhere." His concerns about sex scandals and illegitimate grandchildren had eased over the last few weeks, and so he was able to say all that calmly enough.

The three members of the state Republican Party looked disappointed, but quickly got over it. "We'll be in touch soon. And please think carefully about everything we've discussed," Schroeder said.

"I will," David replied truthfully.

* * *

**Lovers' Lane, Sunnydale**

**The same time**

Mr. Chase was in fact badly mistaken in thinking that Cordy was with the Cordettes ironing out problems with her formal wear, while Xander was at the Bronze. Because both of those teenagers were currently in the back seat of her BMW, and making out like crazy.

The windows were all fogged up as Cordelia slid down onto her back and dragged Xander on top of her. She had brought them here instead of doing those other activities, because Miss Chase wanted to pick up where they'd left off during her birthday and the object of her affections hadn't fully anticipated the deviousness of the female mind. Thus Xander suddenly found himself in a rather compromising position and, for a moment, Harris wondered just how they'd managed to end up like this.

"I promised-" (kiss) "your father-" (kiss) "we wouldn't-" Xander managed to get out.

"Xander, shut up!" Cordelia ordered him in no uncertain terms. ( _As if I care about any of that right now,_ ) she thought, pulling Xander in closer and moving her legs further apart.

The young woman could feel her boyfriend's indecision starting to evaporate as their kisses quickly intensified. With the foolish impatience of youth Queen C reached for the front of Xander's pants, almost exactly like she had back in January, but this time with more satisfactory results. ( _That's it, almost there..._ ) Cordelia knew what she wanted, and tonight she was planning to get it. She had protection and she was on the pill, so now as far as Queen C was concerned, it was showtime.

But her plans were interrupted by the sound of a growl and a thump outside. "What was that?" Harris asked, unlocking his lips from hers.

"I didn't hear anything," Cordelia growled, wanting him to get back to business.

"Yeah, but I could have sworn I heard-"

Cordelia abandoned the search for Xander's tool and grabbed his head with both hands, forcing him to look at her. "Xander. I told you before. Stop talking!" And as quickly as that, things began to get pretty hot and heavy again.

At that moment, a number of occurrences began to happen in quick succession. Buffy staked the vampire she'd been fighting outside Cordelia's car. In the high school library, Giles managed to translate part of the Codex prophecy relating to Miss Summers and the Master. At the Bronze, Jonathan finally got Willow to snap out of her depressed funk because Xander wasn't present.

And then the earthquake struck.

As quakes went, it was far from the worst one this part of the country had ever experienced. Still, there was some broken and damaged property at the school, including Giles's teacup. Jonathan and Willow had to take cover under the stairs at the club in order to avoid falling debris. Buffy had to steady herself as a number of car alarms blared amidst the shaking trees.

( _No, damn it!_ ) Cordelia thought to herself furiously, as she clung to Xander in order to ride out the earthquake. The seismic activity had distracted Harris yet again, and he lifted himself off of her despite Cordy's efforts to prevent it. ( _Ugggh! I cannot win!_ )

Elsewhere underground, the Master and the Anointed One would have disagreed. Nest had his arms stretched out above him, "Yes! YES! Shake, Earth! This is a sign! We are in the final days! My time has come! Glory! GLORY!" He then glanced around at Collin, "Whadaya think? Five-point-one?"

* * *

**Sunnydale High, Sunnydale**

**The next day**

( _Damn you, Xander Harris!_ ) Cordelia snarled to herself, as the second worst female driver in Sunnydale (Buffy had the dubious 'honor' of being number one) skidded her car to a screeching stop within the school's parking lot, tires smoking. ( _Sometimes, I really, really HATE YOU!_ )

Last night after the quake, the two teens had had a rather nasty fight. In a somewhat unusual reversal of expected roles, Xander had been the one to argue with Cordelia about rushing things when it came to their physical relationship. Not only had his father gotten his mother pregnant that way back in 1980 but also, deep down, the young man thought sexual intercourse wasn't just skin-on-skin action; it was about expressing something and accepting consequences.

One of those consequences was the risk of being separated from Dawn over a statutory rape charge.

Needless to say, Cordelia – who had been waiting for this, for him, for over a year – hadn't taken that well. She had lost her temper with Xander completely and said some things that she now regretted. The young woman could only hope that once he'd cooled off, Harris would forgive her somehow.

At that moment, the Cordette named Aura fell into step with Queen C. "Hey, Cordy."

"Hi. What's up?" Miss Chase grated.

( _Uh-oh. Someone's in a bad temper today,_ ) Aura thought to herself. "Well, uh, I was wondering if you could do me a favor?"

"What, exactly?"

Miss White explained, "We're setting up at the Bronze for Spring Fling, and I've gotten my boyfriend Kevin to do most of it. The music, the decorations, even moving the coolers. But the Bronze won't let us use their sound system, and I need someone who knows how to hook one up. Could you, y'know, maybe ask Willow if she could do it?"

"Why me?" Cordelia demanded at once.

"Well, you and Xander live together, and he's her best friend. I figure, who else am I gonna ask? And you'd have a better chance than me of getting her to say yes. Oh, tell Willow we'll talk to her at the dance and everything!" Aura said hopefully.

Cordelia rolled her eyes. "Fine, I'll ask her. But I wouldn't hold my breath about it if I were you. And just in case, look for someone else to help you if she tells me she's busy or whatever."

* * *

**Girls' Locker Room, Sunnydale High**

**Later that night**

Buffy had had a rather unusual day. It had started with listening to Willow gripe about Cordelia and Xander, as well as moan about having to help out Cordy's friend Aura, of all people. Then she had to listen to Jonathan's painfully tentative and stuttering invitation to the Prom, followed by an effort to let him down gently when she'd said no. Listening to her boring Biology teacher (the true replacement for Dr. Gregory) drone on and on had really depressed her, though.

But now, as she went to the sink and turned on the faucet, Buffy saw blood come rushing out instead of water. "Holy cow!"

Straightaway, the Slayer headed for the school library. "Giles, you are not gonna believe this-" she said, blasting through the doors.

Buffy immediately shut up, though, when she heard Rupert talking in his private office. "It's clear. It's what's going to happen. Uh, it's happening now!"

Angel moved into her field of vision to read the Codex for himself, and Buffy saw her beloved's face from outside the office. "Angel?" she whispered.

The vampire was so distraught by the news the Watcher had just imparted to him that he didn't even notice her. "It can't be. You've gotta be wrong."

Giles shook his head. "I've checked it against all my other volumes. It's very real."

Buffy shamelessly eavesdropped at the door whilst Angel said, "Well, there's gotta be some way around it-"

"Listen to me," Giles interrupted passionately. "Some prophecies are, are a bit dodgy. They're, they're mutable. Buffy herself has, has thwarted them time and time again. But this is the Codex! There is nothing in it that does not come to pass."

Angel was still grasping at straws as he said, "Then you're reading it wrong."

"I wish to God I were! But it's very plain. Tomorrow night Buffy will face the Master. And she will die."

Buffy began to laugh when the shock factor impacted into her brain. The two males heard her this time, as she walked away from the office and quickly started off for the doors. "Buffy?" Angel called out.

"So that's it, huh? I remember the drill. One Slayer dies, next one's called. Wonder who she is..." Buffy then asked Giles, "Will you train her? Or will they send someone else?"

"Buffy, I..." Rupert stammered.

"Does it say how he's gonna kill me? Do you think it'll hurt?" The Chosen One became hysterical and quickly backed off when Angel went to hug her. "Don't touch me!" Then she returned her attention back to her Watcher. "Were you even going to tell me about this?"

"I was hoping that I wouldn't have to. That there was...some way around it. I..." Giles trailed off.

Buffy never even hesitated. "I've got a way around it. I quit!"

"It's not that simple," Angel said at once. He had a lot more experience with prophecy than these two, after all.

But Buffy didn't want to hear it. "I'm making it that simple! I quit! I resign, I-I'm fired, you can find someone else to stop the Master from taking over!"

Giles said uncertainly, "I'm not sure that anyone else can. All the...the signs indicate..."

"The signs?" Buffy demanded, as she started throwing books at him. "READ ME THE SIGNS! TELL ME MY FORTUNE! YOU'RE SO USEFUL SITTING HERE WITH ALL YOUR BOOKS! YOU'RE REALLY A LOTTA HELP!" she screamed.

"No, I don't suppose I am," Giles replied wearily.

Angel wasn't quite sure what to say in a situation like this. "I know this is hard-"

"What the hell would you know about it? You're never gonna die!" Buffy lashed out at him.

The ensouled vampire was hurt at the implication. "You think I want anything to happen to you? Do you think I could even stand it? We just gotta figure out a way-"

"I already did. I quit, remember? Pay attention!" the Slayer told him harshly.

Giles said slowly, "Buffy, if the Master rises..."

The young woman yanked the cross from her neck. "I don't care!" Then she calmed down a little, "I don't care. Giles, I'm sixteen years old. I don't wanna die."

Buffy threw her cross down as she walked out of the library without looking back. Giles and Angel just stared at one another, not sure where to go from here.

* * *

**Sunnydale High, Sunnydale **

**The next morning**

"Thanks for doing this, Willow. Really," Aura said with a fake smile.

Miss Rosenberg honestly still wasn't sure how she'd gotten herself roped into this, as she and the black girl headed for the Audio-Visual room. The redhead suspected that Xander's pleas for herself and Cordelia to bury the hatchet probably had a lot to do with it, as well as Cordy's obvious antagonism towards Harris; which meant trouble in Paradise was afoot.

But mostly, it was because her parents had drilled the lessons of the Good Samaritan into her too well for Willow to ignore them at this point in her life. "You're welcome, Aura."

The cheerleader suddenly sighed, "It's just that Kevin promised me he'd bring everything over to the Bronze last night. He promised! Oh, we'll never have everything ready in time!"

The red-haired girl shrugged. "Guess he probably just forgot. Guys do have a tendency to do that."

"Yeah, but still. I betcha my ex-boyfriend Percy wouldn't have flaked out on me this way." Then Aura looked disgusted. "Cheat on me, sure, but never forget about me."

Willow very wisely decided to leave that one alone as they arrived at the A-V room. "Hey look, there they are! They're watching cartoons?" she asked as the two girls looked through the window.

"Of all the nerve!" Aura snarled. She opened the door to barge inside, but Kevin fell out first, dead. It was from a vampire attack, if the twin holes in his blood-soaked neck were any indication. "Ahhhhh! Oh my God! Kevin! No!" Aura screamed as she kneeled down before her dead boyfriend.

Willow just stared in horror at the trashed room as she looked inside and saw the corpses of all of Kevin's friends. The bloody handprint on the TV screen just added to the surreal feel of the situation, as young Miss Rosenberg fainted.

* * *

**6305 Westminster Place, Sunnydale**

**Not long after sunset**

"I've seen so much since I learned the truth about what really goes bump in the night. I mean, I thought I could take anything. But, Buffy, this...this was different."

The Slayer stared at her best friend, who was sitting on her bed hugging her knees. It was obvious to her Willow had been crying a lot. "It'll be all right, somehow."

"I'm trying to think how to say it...to explain it so you understand," Willow forced the words out.

"It doesn't matter as long as you're okay-"

"I'm _**not**_ okay. I knew those guys, Buffy. I mean, I go to that room every day. But what I saw when I looked in there today, it...it wasn't our world anymore. They made it theirs. And they had fun doing it." A tear rolled down her cheek as Willow asked miserably, "What are we gonna do?"

Buffy made a decision. "What we have to." She got up and exhaled, "Promise me you'll stay in tonight, okay?"

"Why? What are you going to do?" the redhead asked.

"What I have to."

* * *

**Sunnydale High library, Sunnydale**

**Not long afterwards**

Giles was speaking to the Computer Science teacher named Jenny Calendar, who months ago had helped him trap and defeat Moloch. The brunette woman in question had just found out that Buffy was the Vampire Slayer, and helped Giles figure out the Anointed One was still around and a child to boot. "So what's the plan? We tell Buffy the Anointed One is supposed to lead her to Hell?"

"I don't intend involving her at all," Giles informed her.

Ms. Calendar didn't get it. "What do you mean?"

"Buffy's not going to face the Master. I am," the Watcher said simply.

"No you're not."

Giles and Jenny looked around and saw the female teen approaching. "So, I'm looking for a kid, huh? And he'll lead me to the Master?" the Chosen One asked.

Giles was gripped by a sudden fervor to save his charge at all costs. "Buffy, I'm not going to send you out there to die. Now, you were right: I-I've waded around in these old books for so long, I've forgotten what the real world is like. I-it's time I found out."

Buffy shook her head. "You're still not going up against the Master."

"I've made up my mind," the British man said in no uncertain terms.

"So have I."

"Well, I made up my mind first! I'm older and wiser than you, and just...just do what you're told for once! Alright?" Giles ranted at Buffy.

Again, there was the pessimistic headshake. "That's not how it goes. I'm the Slayer."

Giles almost shouted, "I don't care what the books say. I defy prophecy, and I am going! There's nothing you can say that'll change my mind."

"I know." Buffy pretended to turn around to go, then threw a punch towards her mentor's face, knocking him out cold. Giles fell backwards onto the floor, with Ms. Calendar scrambling to his aid at once. Buffy saw her crucifix on the table, and with a feeling of resignation and predestination grabbed it and put it back on.

"Buffy, what the hell do you think you're doing?"

The Slayer turned around, and saw Harris standing at the doorway. "Hopefully, preventing the Master from bringing about the apocalypse. What are you doing here, Xander?"

"Willow called me," Harris said, remembering that conversation. The hacker had sounded hollow and depressed when he'd spoken to her earlier in the day, at the same time Cordelia had been comforting Aura. But the hacker had sounded completely wigged a few minutes ago, which had sent him over to Slayer Central in a hurry. "And I got here just in time to hear everything that you guys said. So you're not seriously thinking of going to face this Master dude, are you? He's supposed to kill you!"

"He's right, this is madness," Jenny said from her position on the floor, cradling Giles's head.

"Maybe," Buffy muttered, picking up a crossbow. "Or maybe I'm destined to take the Master with me before I go. Who knows?"

"I'm not letting you do this," Xander said firmly. "Letting someone go off to their death like a lamb to the slaughter wasn't on my list of things to do today."

Buffy distracted the male teenager by firing a wooden arrow almost into his head, before she used the crossbow to knock him out the way she'd done to Giles. With a small sigh, the Slayer left the library despite Jenny's pleas to stay. Not long afterwards Buffy met Collin; who began to lead her to her doom.

* * *

**Angel's apartment, Sunnydale**

**Not long afterwards**

Angel was just sitting in the gloom, brooding as usual, but with a great deal of fear mixed in as well.

A loud banging on his front door interrupted his brood session. ( _Who could that be?_ ) Angel got up and opened the door, only to be astounded when both Xander and Jonathan burst in.

"Buffy's gone! We need your help," Harris said without mincing words.

"What?" the vampire asked.

"Buffy, she's gone to fight the Master," Jonathan supplied.

"He'll kill her." Cold dread instantly filled Angel's unbeating heart.

"No. The way I heard it, once the Master gets free apparently the Hellmouth opens, all the demons come to party, and everybody dies. Including Dawn, which therefore means that all of that is so _**not **_gonna happen," Xander said firmly.

"We know you can find this Master guy. So take us to him," Jonathan demanded.

"You don't get it. He'd kill you both before either of you could even breathe. And that's if you're lucky," Angel said pessimistically.

"What's the matter with you, Deadboy?" Xander wanted to know. "This is Buffy we're talkin' about! Y'know, the girl who's in love with you? Why the hell are we still here?"

Angel finally admitted it. "I'm afraid." Ignoring Xander's expression at finding out that even the gods can have feet of clay, he said, "Harris, the Master made Darla nearly two centuries before she made me. He's older, stronger and can also control minds from a distance. The sad fact is even I don't stand a chance against him."

Jonathan had heard enough. He brought up his cross and shoved it into Angel's face. The vampire growled as he jumped back and Levinson said angrily, "Maybe we haven't made ourselves clear. Either you take us to save Buffy and prevent the end of the world, or you don't leave this room alive! Well, undead, but you know what I mean."

The former Scourge of Europe had been walking the Earth for nearly two hundred and fifty years, and so was unimpressed with the threat. But as he looked at Jonathan's accomplice, Angel knew that Xander would go off to try to save Buffy with or without him. And the warning from that nameless man in the robes a year ago was still present in the vampire's mind, even after all this time: that if Xander died, all hope would eventually be lost.

He had no idea why that would be so, but he believed the mage nonetheless. Thus, Angel made his decision. "All right. Let's go."

* * *

**Chase Manor, Sunnydale**

**The same time**

"Cordelia, have you seen Xander lately?"

The female teen looked around at Dawn and Cassandra. "No, guess not," she replied to Dawn's question. "But hey, didn't he go to Willow's place?" Cordy wasn't exactly happy about Harris going to see that girl again – because deep down, and as unlikely as she believed it to be, the brunette was still not entirely secure in her relationship with Xander and considered the redhead a potential rival for his affections. But she figured there was nothing she could say about it which wouldn't make her sound petty, which was true enough.

"Yeah, well, that's the weird part. Willow said he left there ages ago," Cassandra said with a frown. "And hey, aren't you two supposed to be joined at the hip nowadays?"

Cordelia didn't have the heart to tell her little sister about their so-called lovers' tiff. "Uh, whatever. Look, I have an idea where he might be, so I'll go find him."

"Can we come too?" Dawn asked, not knowing Cordelia intended to head for the high school library.

"Yeah, Dad's been talking on the phone to some guy named Ging-rick or whoever for ages," Cassandra added. "And Mom's busy too. We're bored."

* * *

**Sunnydale High parking lot, Sunnydale**

**A short while later**

Willow and Ms. Calendar had decided to head for the Bronze, Giles mistakenly believing that the vampires would go there first to procure victims for the Master prior to his release. The plan was to warn the Prom party guests, but unfortunately the vamps apparently had other ideas. They had been ordered to gather together at the Hellmouth, and thus the two computer experts had suddenly found themselves surrounded when the vampires decided to make them into their evening meal.

"Why are they coming here?" Jenny wanted to know.

"Not caring!" Willow seemed frozen with fear.

All of a sudden, a car screeched to a halt behind them. Both the teacher and the student saw the Chase-mobile with Cordelia behind the wheel, a scared-looking Dawn and Cassandra present as well. "Get in!" the cheerleader yelled.

"What's happening?!" Dawn seemed utterly terrified.

"What's going on?!" Cassandra demanded hysterically at the same time, wishing with all her heart that she'd never complained about being bored tonight and insisting on accompanying Big Sis on the Xander-hunt.

"What are they doing here?!" Willow demanded after she and Jenny scrambled in, pointing at the younger teens.

"Xander's missing! They forced me to let 'em come along. Where is he?" Miss Chase semi-screamed, as a vampire jumped on top of the car and all the femmes shrieked in terror.

Willow unfortunately didn't have a clue. "All I know is right now, we've gotta get to the library!"

"Library! Right!" Cordelia nodded as she burned rubber to make a fast U-turn, throwing the vampire off of the roof of her car. The vehicle quickly headed toward the main school building, the car's engine revving loudly as Cordelia gunned it toward the doors.

"Of course, we generally walk there," Willow inserted nervously, seeing the school property loom closer and closer outside the glass.

"Cordy!" Dawn and Cassandra shouted in unison.

The car crashed through the doors and into the main hall, barrelling along till it skidded to a stop outside the library doors. All the women then scrambled outside and started to barricade the doorway once inside the library, just as the first wave of vampires arrived.

"What's happening? No, never mind. Why are they coming here?" Giles wanted to know, as he helped in the efforts to secure their bastion of refuge.

Behind the good guys, a green tentacle came into view, working its way up through the cracks in the floor. The Hellmouth demon had at last arrived on the scene.

Not all that far away, Richard Wilkins mystically felt it. The Mayor knew the time to act had finally come, and so began to issue orders. Deputy Mayor Finch instantly scrambled to obey them, knowing that death would be too easy an escape if he somehow screwed up here.

* * *

**Sunnydale High roof, Sunnydale**

**The same time**

The Master was feeling exultant, with freedom being his again at last. The prophecy had been fulfilled. The Slayer had come to him, and he had killed her. And the best bit was seeing her face upon being informed that he couldn't have escaped without her willing venture into certain doom.

( _Her blood was utterly delicious. Haven't tasted anything like it since the 1600's,_ ) Nest thought to himself in blissful satisfaction. ( _Too bad I didn't spend more time draining her dry, but then I __**was**__ in such a hurry to come here and see this beautiful sight..._ )

The Master looked down through the skylight into the library, watching the three-headed Hellmouth demon doing battle with the humans. "Yes. Come forth, my child. Come into my world!"

"I don't think it's yours just yet."

The Master turned around in surprised disbelief. ( _THE SLAYER?!_ )

Indeed it was. A somewhat wet and bedraggled Buffy stood very much alive before him in her white Prom dress. She was alive after being drowned mere minutes ago, thanks to Xander and Jonathan giving her CPR while Angel had just stood around looking like an idiot. Still, he'd guided the two mortals to where one particular higher being had needed them to be, so he'd done the job that Robe Boy had known was both necessary and sufficient.

"You're dead!" Heinrich finally spat out, his mouth still stained with Buffy's blood.

"I may be dead, but I'm still pretty. Which is more than I can say for you," Buffy retorted.

"You were destined to die! It was written!" The Master still couldn't quite believe this was happening.

Buffy shrugged. "What can I say? I flunked the written."

The Master growled and reached his arm out to try his hypnosis on her again, like he'd successfully done in that underground church a few minutes before. "Come here!"

Out of nowhere a crossbow bolt hit him just below the heart, disrupting his concentration. The Master grunted in pain, pulled out the bolt and then growled at the boy responsible, "WHO DARES-?!"

( _Oh crap, oh crap, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die! And I never even told Cordelia how I really..._ ) Xander didn't finish that thought as he yelled, "Buffy, get him!"

Immediately, the fight started between the Master and the Slayer. Elsewhere, Angel and Jonathan fought off the attacking vampires and the Scooby gang fought both the Hellmouth demon and the vamps who had managed to get inside the library. Even with the Mayor's covert assistance, this particular battle was definitely no picnic. Dawn and Cassandra were having quite the little baptism of fire from being introduced into the realm of the supernatural, but there was no time to coddle them now.

The end of the world was pretty seriously nigh, after all.

"Did you really think you could best me here, when you couldn't below?" the Master taunted his opponent.

"Yeah, 'cause I get by with a little help from my friends. Xander, now!" Buffy yelled.

Old fruit punch mouth couldn't help it; just for a moment, he was distracted in anticipating another crossbow bolt from that damned child. That moment was all Buffy needed to hit the Master with a jaw-breaking punch. Then she grabbed him by the neck and flipped him over her head straight down through the skylight.

The ancient vampire roared with fury as he fell, hitting the jagged remains of a table down below and getting impaled through the heart. His leathery undead flesh slowly turned to ashes, until there was nothing but a skeleton left. It was a unique event, to be sure, because every other vampire on record left nothing but dust behind after getting staked that way.

But as Xander and Buffy watched from up above, that was enough for the Hellmouth demon to vacate the premises. The battleground suddenly became quiet as the three-headed nightmare withdrew back into the bowels of the Earth. The other vampires quickly split the scene as well.

Elsewhere, the Mayor finally relaxed as the minions loyal to him took out the stragglers and he felt the Hellmouth close up again. Before he died screaming, thanks to Robe Boy showing up to deal with him personally; as per the orders of the mage's boss.

The Trickster god named Anansi.

A short while later, Buffy, Xander, Angel and Jonathan arrived at the library entrance, just as Cordelia dragged the last of the barricade away.

"You're alive!" she squealed in delight at the sight of Harris, and started kissing the hell out of him.

Buffy just grinned at the spectacle, as did Dawn and Cassandra. Jonathan and Giles looked embarrassed, while Jenny merely raised an eyebrow at the unexpected entertainment. Angel looked disinterested, but Willow's composure was shattered completely when she heard the muttered "I love you's" exchanged between Xander and Cordelia.

Well, never mind; she would be meeting Daniel Osbourne and Tara Maclay soon enough...

The two teens finally came up for air, only to notice everyone staring at them. "Uh, I can explain," Cordy hesitantly, as she realized her secret was now out and there was no way to put this genie back in the bottle.

"While you're at it, could you explain what just happened here?" Cassandra asked, looking around at the trashed library.

"Yeah! What were those things?" Dawn added in her two cents.

"Uh, Dawnie? Any chance you'll think this was all just a bad dream in the morning?" Willow asked weakly.

But Xander knew the two young girls he lived with better than that. "Ah, what the hell. Dawn, Cassandra, demons and vampires are real, and they live here in Sunnydale. The G-man here can fill you in on the rest," Xander said with a gesture.

Giles glared at Harris at the mention of that deplorable nickname. Then he looked at his Slayer, "Buffy?"

The Chosen One smiled. "Yeah. You know, it's been a very weird day."

"Buffy died and everything!" Jonathan agreed with her wholeheartedly.

"Wow! Harsh," Willow said sympathetically.

"I should have known that wouldn't stop you," Giles said to Buffy with a hint of paternal affection, causing her to smile again.

"Well, what do we do now?" Jenny asked, making sure to keep well away from Angel. She was an undercover Romany gypsy, after all.

Giles looked around, "Uh, I don't know about the rest of you, but I'd like to get out of this place. I don't like the library very much anymore."

Xander looked to his younger siblings and said to Cordelia, "We better take these two home, don't ya think? 'Cause your parents will probably skin me alive, if they find out Dawn and Cassie aren't at home where they belong."

"Hey!" the brats whined.

"Again with the Mr. Negativity thing. When are you ever gonna loosen up?" Cordelia wanted to know.

"Uh, speaking of which, there's a dance at the Bronze tonight. Could be fun for us to attend," Jonathan said hesitantly.

Everyone looked around at one another, and eventually decided that sounded like an excellent idea. But after Xander, Cordelia, Cassandra and Dawn had left, Jenny asked, "So, what about him?" She pointed at the Master's bones.

Buffy just sniffed disdainfully. "He's not going anywhere. Loser." Then the Slayer led her people outside to party, because after all, it was Prom night – and her dress had certainly seemed to be a big hit with everyone.

If only she knew, like Robe Boy did, exactly what the next year or so would bring...

The End...

For Now.


End file.
